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PRICE SIX CENTS. 



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SPEECHES 



HOi\. JOHI C. CALHOUI, 



HON. DANIEL WEBSTER 



SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 



DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH, 1850. 



/^ Of V,' 



NEW YORK: 
STRINGER & TOWNSEND, 222 BROADWAY. 

1850. 

Hon. HENRY CLAY'S SPEECH on his Compromise Resolutions on Slavery, just published, Price 
6 cews, as copies foir $1, $3 per 100— Uniform with this; 






fleasant Critirnl nnh Intrbtiml Soonk. 



THE 

LIVIIG AUTHORS OF AMERICA. 

FIRST SERIES. 

BY THOMAS POWELL, 

Author of "Living Authors of England,'' &c. 

1 VOL. MUSLIN. PRICE $1 00. 

In this interesting and highly amusing production, the distinctive literary 
characteristics of the following American writers are portrayed, viz : 



COOPER. 
EMERSOX. 
WILLIS. 
POE. 



HALLECK. 

BRYANT. 

PRESCOTT. 

LONGFELLOW. 

SPARKS. 



DANA. 

MRS. KIRKLAND. 

" OSGOOD. 
MISS FULLER. 



NOTICES OF THE PRESS, 

" To deal thus, under his own name in wholesale criticism of living authors, is the 
act of a bold and independent spirit; there be those, who invariably attribute all 
personal criticism, whether pro or con, to personal prejudice or favoritism. So do 
not we; for we think that Mr. Powell has played his difficult part boldly and in- 
dependently and we believe that his real opinions are here set down in all' honesty ; 
and we further think that the book itself testifies to that honesty of purpose As 
a critic, Mr. Powell is evidently a man of very delicate and refined taste, minute 
exceptions and drawing close definitions ; not, however, to the exclusion of broad 
views at times. His defect, we think, as a judge, lies in his seizing at once, and too 
strongly, on his author's weak point, whatever it be, and suffering his keen ner- 
ception of that deficiency to blind him to the presence of other and counterbalancinsr 
merits. — h^ra. ° 

«' Mr Powell's criticism is best characterized as a free and flowing stvle, bein? 
illustrated by aaecdotes of the literati, and plentifully mingled with piquant ez? 
tracts from the writings of the authors in question. To the public generally it will 
prove an attractive volume, for the author has been well seconded by publishers in 
the admirable style in which they have brought out the volume, the paper, print, 
and binding, being unexceptionable."— JVeo/'s Gazette. i' v ^ v 

" In these days of literary toadyism, it is really refreshing to find an author suffi- 
ciently independent and bold to express his unbiased opinion of the mental calibre 

iLnZT'^T? '""'^r- ■^\'- l'rf"'J' ^^''^'''^^y °^' *'"« ^^^^^ «f independent 
thinkers And a most capital work he has presented to the American people. It 
IS a production that stamps him at once a scholar able to discern the faults and 
peculiarities of authors, without indulging in abuse an.l spleen toward the literati 
Tho«rj!if m" P'-<^'^7t Tolume came under his searching analysis and criticism, 
ihe style of Mr Powel , is exceedingly piquant and readable, and from a cursory 
examination of the book, we are inclined to think his views of our literary men 
lionest and mainly correct."— Picay?<«e. 

STRINGER & TOWNSEND, Publishers, I 
222 Broadway, New York. 



ADDRESS 



OF THE 



HON. JOHN C. CALHOUN, 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 

ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 

[READ FOR HUM BY HON. MR. MASON, MARCH 4. 1350,] 



I HAVE, Senators, believed from the first that the agitation of the subject of slavery 
would, if not prevented by some timely and effective measure, end in disunion, ■b-nter- 
tainino- this opinion, I have, on all proper occasions, endeavored to call the attentioa 
of both the two great parties which divide the country, to adopt some measure to pre- 
vent so crreat a disaster, but without success. The agitation has been permitted to pro- 
ceed, with almost no attempt to resist it, until it has reached a period when it can no 
longer be disguised or denied that the Union is in danger. \ou have thus had forced 
upon you the greatest and the gravest question that ever can come under your con- 
sideration, How can the Union be preserved .' _ ....,• 1 1 * i „ „ „„ 

To give a satisfactory answer to this mighty question, it is indispensable to have an 
accurate and thorough knowledge of the nature and the character of the cause by 
which the Union is endangered. Without such knowledge it is impossible to pronounce, 
with any certainty, by what measure it can be saved ; just as it would be impossible 
for a physican to pronounce, in the case of some dangerous disease, with any certainty, 
by what remedy the patient could be saved, without similar knowledge of the nature 
and character of the cause of the disease. The first question, then, presented for con- 
sideration, in the investigation I propose, in order to obtain such knowledge, is-what 
is it that has endangered the Union .' , , . ,. , • ,,„ „, 

To this question there can be but one answer-that the immediate cause is, the al- 
most universal discontent which pervades all the states composing the Southern section 
of the Union. This widely extended discontent is not of recent origin It commenced 
with the agitation of the slavery question, and has been increasing ever since. Ihe 
next question is,-What has caused this wide-diffused and almost universal discontent ? 

It is a great Mistake to suppose, as is by some, that it originated with demagogues, 
who excited the discontent with the intention of aiding their personal advancement 
or with disappointed, ambitious individuals, who resorted to it ^ ^^^ ^f ^^„^ °f T.^f ^"f 
their fallen fortunes. There is no foundation for this opinion. On the contrary, all 
the great political influences of the section were arrayed '^S^i^^* . ^f ^Jf*^^^"* V ^^f 
exerted to the utmost to keep the people quiet. The great mass of the people of the 
South were divided, as in the other section, into AYhigs and Democrats. TJie leaders 
and the presses of both parties in the South were very solicitous to preverit excitement 
and restore quiet ; becaSse it was seen that the effects ^^ *$« f^^^^^^^rttlr^'e.'necSi? 
tend to weaken, if not destroy, the political ties which united them with their respective 
parties in the other section.' Those who know the strength of party ties Ji^ readily 
appreciate the immense force which this cause exerted against ^g/*f ^1°°.' ^°^ '^^/f T°^ 
of preserving quiet. But, as great as it was, it was not sufficiently so to prevent the 
wicfe spread^discontent which Lw pervades the section. No ; ^e ca-se far deeper 
and more powerful mast exist to produce a discontent so wide and deep than the sne 
inferred. The question then recurs, what is the cause of this discontent It ^il be 
found in the belief of the people of the Southern states, as P^f ^ ^^^jf^^^^/.^X^^^^^^^^ 
itself, that they cannot remain, as things now are, consistently with honor and safety, 
in ?he Union. The next question, then, to be considered, is, what has caused this be- 

Ifone of the causes is, undoubtedly, to be traced to the long ««i^t|^;^^«thSh'*th\V have 
slave question on the part of the North, and the many aggressions which they have 



made on the rights of the South, during the time. I will not enumerate them at pre- 
sent, as it will be done hereafter in its proper place. 

There is another, lying back of it, but with which this is intimately connected, that 
may be regarded as the great and primary cause. It is to be found in the fact that the 
equilibrium between the two sections in the government, as it stood when the constitu- 
tion was ratified and the government put in action, has been destroyed. At that time, 
there was nearly a perfect equilibrium between the two, which afforded ami^le means 
to each to protect itself against the aggression of the other ; but as it now stands, one 
section has exclusive power of controlling the government, which leaves the other 
■without any adequate means of protecting itself against its encroachment and oppres- 
sion. To place this subject distinctly before you, I have, Senators, prepared a brief 
statistical statement, showing the relative weight of the two sections in the government, 
under the first census of 1790, and the last census of 1840. 

According to the former the population of the United States, including Vermont, 
Kentucky and Tennessee, which then were in their incipient condition of becoming 
states, but were not actually admitted, amounted to 3,929,827. Of this number the 
Northern states had 1,977,899, and the Southern 1,952,072, making a difference of only 
25,827 in favor of the former states. The number of states, including Vermont, Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee, was sixteen, of which eight, including Vermont, belonged to the 
Northern section, and eight, including Kentucky and Tennessee, to the Southern, mak- 
ing an equal division of the states between the two sections, under the first census. 
There was a small preponderance in the House of Representatives, and in the electoral 
college, in favor of the Northern, owing to the fact that, according to the provisions of 
the constitution, in estimating federal numbers five slaves count but three ; but it was 
too small to affect sensibly the perfect equilibrium of numbers which, with that excep- 
tion, existed at that time — a true, perfect equilibrium. Such was the equality of the 
two sections when the states composing them agreed to enter into a federal Union. 
Since then the equilibrium between them has been greatly disturbed. 

According to the last census, the aggregate population of the United States amounted 
to 17,063,357, of which the Northern section contained 9,728,920, and the Southern 
7,334,437, making a difference, in round numbers, of 2,400,000.- The number of states 
had increased from sixteen to twenty-six, making an addition of ten states. In the 
mean time, the position of Delaware had become doubtful, as to which section she pro- 
perly belcnged. Considering her as neutral, the Northern states will have thirteen, 
and the Southern otates twelve, making a difference in the Senate of two Senators in 
favor of the former. According to the apportionment under the census of 1843, there were 
228 members of the House of Representatives, of which the Northern states had 135, and 
the Southern states) considering Delaware as neutral) 87 ; making a difference in favor 
of the former, in the House of Representatives, of 48; the difference in the Senate of 
two members added to thi^, gives to the North in the electoral college a majority of 50. 
Since the census of 1840, four states have been added to the Union; Iowa, AVisconsiu, 
Florida and Texas. They leave the difference in the Senate as it stood when the cen- 
sus was taken, but add two to the side of the North in the House, making the present 
majority in the House, in its favor, of 50, and in the electoral college, of 52. 

The result of the whole is to give the Northern section a predominance in every de- 
partment of the government, and thus concentrate in it the two elements which consti- 
tute the federal government — majority of states, and a majority of their population, 
estimated in federal numbers. Whatever section concentrates the two in itself must 
possess control of the entire government. 

But we are just at the close of the sixth decade, and the commencement of the sev- 
enth. The census is to be taken this year, which must add greatly to the decided pre- 
ponderance of the North in the House of Representatives, and in the electoral college. 
The prospect is, also, that a great increase will be added to its present preponderance 
during the period of the decade, by the addition of new states. Two territories — Ore- 
gon and Minnesota — are already in progress, and strenuous efforts are making to bring 
in three additional states from the territory recently conquered from Mexico, which, if 
successful, will add three other states in a short time to the Northern section, making 
five states, and increasing its present number of states from 15 to 20, and of its Sena- 
tors from 30 to 40. On the contrary, there is not a single territory in progress in the 
Southern section, and no certainty that any additional state will be added to it during, 
the decade. 

The prospect then is, that the two sections in the Senate, should the efforts now made 
to exclude the South from the newly conciuered territories succeed, will stand, before 
the end of the decade, twenty Nortlicrn States to twelve Southern (conceding Delaware 
as neutral,) and forty Northern Senators to twenty-four Southern. This great in- 
crease of Senators added to the great increase of members of the House of Representa- 



tives, and electoral college, on the part of the North, which must take place upon the 
next decade, will effectually and eventually destroy the equilibrium which existed when 
the government commenced. 

Had this destruction been the operation of time, without the interference of govern- 
-ment, the jSoutli would have had no reason to complain ; but such was not the fact. It 
was caused by the legislation of this Government, which was appointed as the common 
agent of all, and charged with the protection of the interests and security of all. The 
legislation by which it has been effected may be classed under three heads. The first 
is that series of acts by which the South has been excluded from the common territory 
belonging to all of the states, as the members of the federal Union, which has had the 
effect of extending vastly the portion allotted to the Northern section, and restricting 
within narrow limits the portion left the South. The next consists in adopting a sys- 
tem of revenue and disbursements by which an ixndue proportion of the burthen of 
taxation has been imposed upon the South, and an undue proportion of its proceeds ap- 
propriated to the North ; and the last in a system of political measures by which the 
original character of the Government has been radically changed. 

I propose to bestow upon each of these, in order as they stand, a few remarks, with 
the view of showing that it is owing to the action of this Government that the equilib- 
rium between the two sections has been destroyed; and the whole power of the system 
centred in a sectional majority. 

The first of the series of acts by which the South was deprived of its due share of the 
territories originated with the confederacy which preceded the existence of this Govern- 
ment. It is to be found in the provisions of the ordinance of 17S7. Its effect was to 
exclude the South entirely from that vast and fertile region which lies between the 
Ohio and the Mississippi, now embracing five states and one territory. The next of the 
series is the Missouri compromise, which excluded the South from that large portion of 
Louisiana which lies North of 36 30, excepting what is included in the state of Missouri. 
The last of the series excludes the South from the whole of the Oregon territory. All 
these in the slang of the day were what is called slave territory, and not free soil ; that 
is, territories belonging to slaveholding powers, and open to ther emigration of masters 
with their slaves. By these several acts the South was excluded from 1,238,025 square 
miles, an extent of country considerably exceeding the entire valley of the Mississippi. 
To the South was left the portion of the territory of Louisiana lying South of 36 30, 
and the portion North of it included in the state of Missouri; the portion lying South 
of 36 30, includes the state of Louisiana and Arkansas, and the territory lying West of 
the latter and South of 36 30 called the Indian country. A portion lying South of this, 
with the territory of Florida, now the State, makes in the whole 283,503 square miles. 
—To this must be added the territory acquired with Texas. If the whole should be 
added to the Southern section, it would make an increase of 325,520, which would make 
the whole left to the South 609,023. But a large part of Texas is still in contest be- 
tween the two sections, which leaves uncertain what will be the real extent of the por- 
tion of her territory that may be left to the South. ' ' 

I have not included the territorj recently acquired by the treaty with Mexico. The 
North is making the most strenuous efforts to appropriate the whole to herself, by ex- 
cluding the SouthJi:iim_every foci of it. If she should succeed, it will add to that from 
which SouthernTaws have already been excluded 527,078 square miles, and would in- 
crease the whole the North has appropriated to herself, to 1,7(34.023, not including the 
portion which she may succeed in excluding us from in Texas. To sum up the whole, 
the United States, since they declared their independence, have acquired 2,373,046 
square miles of territory, from which the North will have excluded the South, if she 
should succeed in monopolizing the newly acquired territories, about three-fourths of 
the whole, and leave the South but about one-fourth. 

Such is the first and great cause that has destroyed the equilibrium between the two 
sections in the government. 4 ' 

The next is the system of revenue and disbursements which has been adopted by the 
Government. It is well known that the main source from which ihe government has 
derived its revenue is the duties on imports. I shall not undertake to show that all 
such duties must necessarily fall mainly on the exporting states, and that the South, 
as the great exporting portion of the Union, has in reality paid vastly more tlian her 
due proportion of the revenue, because I deem it unnecessary, as the subject has on so 
many occasions been fully discussed. Nor shall I, for the same reason, undertake to 
show that a fir greater portion of the revenue has been disbursed at the North than its 
due share ; and that the joint effect of these causes has been to transfer a vast amount 
from the South to the North, which, under an equal system of revenue and disburse- 
ment, would not have been lost to her. If to this be added that many of the duties 
were imposed, not for revenue but for protection, that is, intended to put money, 



not into the treasury, but directly into the pocket of the manufacturers, some concep- 
tion may be formed of the immense amount which in the long course of so many years 
has been transferred from the South to the North. There are no data by •which it can 
be estimated with any certainty ; lut it is safe to say that it amounts to hundreds of 
millions of dollars. Under the most moderate estimate, it would be sufficient to add 
greatly to the wealtli of the North, and by that greatly increase her population, by at- 
tracting emigration from all quarters in that direction. 

This, combined with the great and primary cause, amply explains why the North 
has acquired a preponderance over every department of the government, by its dispro- 
portionate increase of population and states. The former, as has been shown, has in- 
creased, in fifty years, 2,400,000 over that of the South. This increase of population, 
during so long a period, is satisfactorily accounted for by the number of emigrants, and 
the increase of their descendants, which has been attracted to the Northern section 
from Europe and the Southern section, in consequence of the advantages derived ft-om 
the causes assigned. If they had not existed — if the South had retained all the capital 
which has been extracted from her by the fiscal action of the government,' and if they 
had not been excluded, by the ordinance of 1787 and the Missouri compromise, from the 
region lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi, and between the Mississippi and the 
Rocky Mountains, North of 36 30, it scarcely admits of a doubt that she would have 
divided the emigration with the North, and by retaining her own people, would have 
at Ipast equalled the North in population, under the census of 1840, and probably un- 
der that about to be taken. She would also, if she had retained her equal rights in 
those territories, have maintained an equality in the number of states with the North, 
and have preserved the equilibrium between the two sections that existed at the com- 
mencement of the government. The loss, then, of the equilibrium, is to be attributed 
to the action of this Government. 

But while these measures were destroying the equilibrium between the two sections, 
the action of Government was leading to a radical change in its character by concen- 
trating all the power of the system in itself The occasion will not permit me to trace 
the measures by which this great change has been consummated. If it did, it would 
not be difficult to show that the process commenced at an early period of tlie govern- 
ment ; that it proceeded almost without interruption, step by step, until it absorbed, 
virtually, its entire powers Without, however, going through the whole process to 
establish the fact, it may be done satisfactorily by a very short statement. 

That this government claims, and practically maintains, the right to decide in the 
last resort, as to the extent of its powers, will scarcely be denied by any one conversant 
with the political history of the country. It is equally certain that it also claims the 
right to resort to foi'ce, to maintain whatever power she claims against all opposition. 
Indeed, it is apparent from what we daily hear, that this has become the prevailing and 
fixed opinion of a great majority of the community. Now, I ask, what limitation can 
possibly be placed upon the powers of a government claiming and exercising such 
rights .' And, if none can be, how Can the separate government of the states maintain 
and protect the powers reserved to them by the constitution, or the people of the several 
states maintain those which are reserved to them, and among them, their sovereign 
powers, by which they ordained and established, not only their separate state constitu- 
tions and governments, but also the constitution and government of the United States.' 
But if they have no constitutional means of maintaining them against the right claimed 
by this government, it necessarily follows that they hold them at its pleasure and dis- 
cretion, and that all the powers of the system are, in reality, concentrated in it. It also 
follovrs that the character of the government has been changed in consequence, from a 
federal republic, as it originally came from the hands of its framers, and that it has 
been changed into a great national consolidated democracy. It has, indeed, at present, 
all the charMcteristics of the latter, and not one oi the former, although it still retains 
its outward form. 

Tlie result of the whole of these causes combined, is that the North has acquired a de- 
cided ascendancy over every department of this government, and through it, a control 
over all the powers of the system. A single section, governed by the will oC the numerical 
majority, has now, in fact, the control of the government, and the entire powers of the 
system. What was once a constitutional federal republic, is now converted, in reality, 
into one as absolute as that of the autocrat of Russia, and as despotic in its tendency as 
any absolute government that ever existed. 

As, then, the North has the absolute control over the government, it is manifest that 
on all questions between it and the South, where there is a diversity of interests, the 
interest of the latter will be sacrificed to tlie former, however oppressive the effects may 
be, as tlie South possesses no means by whicli it can resist, tluough the action of the 
government But if there were no questions of vital importance to the South, in refer- 



5 

ence to which there was a diversity of views between the two sections, this state of 
things might be endured, without the hazard of destruction by the South. But such is 
not the fact. There is a question of vital importance to the Southern section, in refer- 
ence to which the views and feelings of the two sections are opposite and hostile as they 
<an possibly be. 

I refer to the relation between the two races in the Southern section, which consti- 
tutes a vital portion of her social organization. Every portion of the North entertains 
views and feelings more or less hostile to it. Those most opposed and hostile regard it 
as a sin, and consider themselves under the most sacred obligation to use every effort 
to destroy it. Indeed, to the extent that they conceive they have power, they regard 
themselves as implicated in the sin, and responsible for suppressing it, by the vise of all 
and every means. Those less opposed and hostile regard it as a crime — an offence 
against humanity, as they call it, and although not so fanatical, feel themselves bound 
to use all efforts to effect the same object. While those who are least opposed and hos- 
tile regard it as a blot and a stain on the character of what they call the nation, and 
feel themselves accordingly bound to give it no countenance or support. On the con- 
trary, the Southern section regards the relation as one which cannot be destroyed with- 
out subjecting the two races to the greatest calamity, and the section to poverty, deso- 
lation and wretchedness, and accordingly feel bound, by every consideration of interest, 
safety and duty, to defend it. 

This hostile feeling on the part of the North toward the social organization of the 
South, long lay dormant ; but it only required some cause, which would make the im- 
pression on those who felt most intensely that they were responsible for its continu- 
ance, to call it into action. The increasing power of this government, and of the control 
of the Northern section over all of it, furnished the cause. It was they made an im- 
pression on the minds of many, that there was little or no restraint to prevent the gov- 
ernment to do whatever it might choose to do. This was sufficient of itself to put the 
most fanatical portion of the North in action, for the purpose of destroying the existing 
relation between the two races in the South. 

The first organized movement toward it commenced in 1835. Then, for.JJie first time, 
societies were organized, presses established, lecturers sent forth to excite the people 
of the North, and incendiary puljlications scattered over the whole South through the 
mail. The South was thoroughly aroused ; meetings were held everywhere, and reso- 
lutions adopted, calling upon the North to apply a remedy to arrest the threatened 
evil, and pledging themselves to adopt measures for their own protection if it was not 
arrested. n At the meeting of Congress, petitions poured in from the North, calling up- 
on Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Cokimbia, and to prohibit what they 
called the internal slave trade between the states, avowing at the same time that their 
ultimate object was to abolish slavery not only in the District but in the states, and 
throughout the Union. At this period, the number engaged in the agitation was small, 
and it possessed little or no personal influence. 

Neither party in Congress had, at that time, any sympathy with them or their cause. 
The members of each party presented their petitions with great reluctance. Neverthe- 
less, as small and as contemptible as the party then was, both of the great parties of 
the North dreaded them. They felt that, though small, they were organized in refer- 
ence to a subject which had a great and a commanding influence over the Northern 
mind. Each ',- :-ty, on that account, feared to oppose their petitions, lest the opposite 
party should take advantage of the one who opposed by favoring them. The effect was 
that both united in insisting that the petitions should be received, and Congress take 
jurisdiction of the subject for which they prayed ; and, to justify their course, took the 
extraordinary ground that Congress was bound to receive petitions on every subject, 
however objectionable it might be, and whether they had or had not jurisdiction over 
the subject. These views prevailed in the House of Representatives, and partially in 
the Senate, and thus the party succeeded, in their first movement, in gaining what 
they proposed— a position in Congress from which the agitation could be extended over 
the whol§ Union. This was the commencement of the agitation which has ever sinc« 
continued, and which, as it is now acknowledged, has endangered the Union itself. _ 

As to myself, I believed, at that early period, if the party who got up the petitions 
should succeed in getting Congress to take jurisdiction, that agitation would toUow, 
and that it would, in the end, if not arrested, destroy the Union. I then so expressed 
mvself in debate, and called upon both parties to take ground against taking jurisdic- 
tion, but in vain. Had my voice been heard, and Congress refused taking jurisdiction 
by the united votes of all parties, the agitation which followed would have been pre- 
vented, and the fanatic movements accompanying the agitation, which have brouglit us 
to our present perilous condition,. would have become extinct from the want ot some- 
thing to feed the flame. That was the time for the North to show her devotion to 



the Union ; but unfortunately, botli of the great parties of that section were so intent 
on obtaining or retaining party ascendency, that all other considerations were over- 
looked or forgotten. 

What have since followed are but natural consequences. With the success of their first 
movement, this small ftmntical party began to acquire strength, and with that, to be- 
come an object of courtship to both of the great parties. The necessary consequence 
•was, a farther increase of power, and a gradual tainting of the opinions of both of the 
other parties with their ductriues, until the infection has extended over both, and the 
great mass of the population of the North, who, whatever may be their opinion of the 
original abolition party, which still keeps up its distinctive organization, hardly 
ever fail, when it comes to acting, to co-operate in carrying out their measures. With 
the increase ol their influence, they extend the sphere of their action. — In a short pe- 
riod after they had commenced their first movement, they had acquired sufficient influ- 
ence to induce the Legislatures of most of the Northern states to pass acts which, in 
effect, abrogated the provision of the constitution that provides for the delivering up of 
fugitive slaves. 

Not long after, petitions followed to abolish slavery in forts, magazines and dock- 
yards, and al' .r.er places where Congress had exclusive power of legislation. This 
■was foUowc 1 y petitions, and resolutions of Legislatures of the Northern States, and 
popular meetings, to exclude the Southern states from all territories acquired, or _ to 
be acquired, and to prevent the admission of any state hereafter into the Union which 
by its constitution does not prohibit slavery. And Congress is invoked to do all this 
expressly with the view of the final abolition.of slavery in the States. That has been 
avowed to be the ultimate object, from the beginning of the agitation until the present 
time, and yet the great body of both parties of the North, with the full knowledge of 
the fact, although disowning the abolitionists, have co-operated with them in almost all 
their measures. 

Such is a brief history of the agitation, so far as it has yet advanced. Now, I ask. 
Senators, what is there to prevent its farther progress, until it fulfills the ultimate end 
proposed, unless some decisive measure should be adopted to prevent it ? Has any one 
of the causes, which have added to its increase from its original small and contemptible 
beginning, until it has attained its present magnitude, diminished in force .' Is the 
original cause of the movement — that slavery is a sin, and ought to be suppressed — 
weaker now than at the commencement .' Or is the abolition party less numerous or 
influential .' Or have they less influence over elections .' or less control over the two 
great parties of the North in elections .' Or has the South greater means of influencing 
or controlling the movements of this government now than it had when the agitation 
commenced? To all these questions but one answer can be given. No. No. No. The 
very reverse is true. Instead of weaker, all the elements in favor of agkation are 
strjnger now than they were in 1835, when the agitation first commenced. While all 
the elements of influence on the part of the South are weaker, I again ask, what is to 
stop this agitation, unless something decisive is done, until the great and final object 
at which it aims — the abolition of slavery in the South — is consummated .' Is it then, 
not certain that, if something decisive is not now done to arrest it, the South will be 
forced to choose between abolition and secession .' Indeed, as events are now moving, 
it v,-ill not require the South to secede, to dissolve the Union ; agitation Avill of itself 
effect it, of which its past history furnishes abundant proof, as I shall next proceed to 
show. 

It is a great mistake to suppose that disunion can be effected by a single blow. The 
cor'ls which bind these States together in one common union are far too numerous and 
powerful for that. Disunion must be the work of time. It is only through a long 

Srocess and in succession that the cords can snap, until the whole fabric falls asun- 
er. Already the agitation of the .slavery question has snapped some of the most im- 
portant, and has greatly weakened all the others, as 1 shall proceed to show. 

The cords that bind the states together are not only many, but various in character. 
Among them some are spiritual or ecclesiastical; some political; others social; others 
appertain to the benefits conferred by the Union; and others to the feelings of duty 
and obligation. 

The strongest of those of a spiritual and ecclesiastical nature consisted in the unity 
of the great religious denominations, all of which originally embraced tlie Union. All 
those ilenomination.'^, with the exception. i)erhaps, of the Catholics, were organized 
very much upon the principle of our political institutions. Beginning with smaller 
meetings, corresponding with the political divisions of the country, tlieir organization 
terminated in one great central assemblage, corresponding very uuich with the charac- 
ter of Congress. At these meetings the principal clergymen and lay members of the 
respective denominations from all parts of the Union met, to transact business relating 



to their common concerns. It was not confined to what appertained to the doctrines 
^nd discipline of the respective denominations, but extended to plans for disseminating 
the Bible, establishing missionaries, distributing tracts, and establishing presses for 
the publication of tracts, newspapers and periodicals, with a view of diffusing religious 
information, and for the support of the doctrines and creeds of the denomination. All 
this combined contributed greatly to strengthen the bonds of the Union. The strong 
ties which held each denomination together, formed a strong cord to hold the whole 
Union together ; but as powerful as they were, they have not been able to resist the 
explosive effect of slavery agitation. 

The first of these cords which snapped under its explosive force was that of the power- 
ful Methodist Episcopal Church. The numerous and strong ties which held it together 
are all broken, and its unity gone. They now form separate churches, and instead of 
that feeling of attachment and devotion to the interests of the whole church, which was 
formerly felt, they are now arrayed into two hostile bodies, engaged in litigation about 
■what was formerly their common property. 

The next cord that snapped was that of the Baptists, one of the largest and most 
respectable of the denominations ; that of the Presbyterians is not entirely snapped, 
but some of its strands have given way ; that of the Episcopal church is the only one of 
the four great Protestant denominations which remains unbroken and entire. The 
strongest cord of a political character consists of the many and strong tics that have 
held together the two great parties, which have, with some modifications, existed 
from the beginning of the government. They both extended to every portion of the 
tJnion, and had strongly contributed to hold all its parts together. But this powerful 
eord has proved no better than the spiritual. It resisted for a long time the explosive 
tendency of the agitation, but has finally snapped vinder its force— if not entirely, nearly 
so. Nor is there one of the remaining cords which has not been greatly weakened. To 
this extent the Union has already been destroyed by_ agitation, in the only way it can 
be, by snapping asunder and weakening the cords which bind it together. 

If the agitation goes on, the same force acting with increased intensity as has been 
shown, there will be nothing left to hold the states together, except force— But surely 
that can, with no propriety of language, be called a Union, when the only means by 
■which the weaker is held connected with the stronger portion is force. It may, indeed, 
keep them connected, but the connection will partake much more of the character of 
subjugation on the part of the weaker to the stronger, than the Union of free indepen- 
dent and sovereign states in one federal union, as they stood in the early stages of the 
Government, and which only is worthy of the sacred name of union. 

Having now, Senators, explained what it is that endangers the Union, and traced it 
to its cause, and explained its nature and character, the great question again recurs, 
how can the Union be saved .' To this I answer, there is but one way by which it can 
be, and that is, by adopting such measures as will satisfy the states belonging to the 
Southern section that they can remain in the Union consistently with their honor and 
their safety. There is again, only one way by which that can be effected, and that is, 
by removing the causes by which this belief has b«en produced. Do that, and discon- 
tent will cease, harmony and kind feelings between the sections be restored, an'tl every 
apprehension of danger to the Union be removed. The question then is : By what means 
can this be done .' But before I undertake to answer this question, I propose to show 
by what it cannot be done. 

It cannot then be done by eulogies on the Union, however splendid or numerous. 
The cry of Union! Union! the glorious Union! can no more prevent disunion thanthe 
cry of health! health! glorious health! on the part of the physician, can save a patient 
lying dangerously ill. So long as the Union, instead of being regarded as a protector, 
is regarded in the opposite character by not much less than a majority of the states, it 
■will be in vain to attempt to concentrate them by pronouncing eulogies on it. 

Besides, this cry of Union comes commonly from those whom we cannot believe to be 
sincere. It usually comes from our assailants, but we cannot believe them to be sincere ; 
for if they loved the Union, they would necessarily be devoted to the constitution. It made 
the Union, and to destroy the constitution would be to destroy the Union. But the 
only reliable and certain evidence of devotion to the constitution is, to abstain on the 
one hand from violating it, and to repel, on the other, all attempts to violate it. It is 
only by faithfully performing those high duties, that the constitution can be preserved, 
and with it the Union. 

But how then stands the profession of devotion to the Union by our assailants, when 
brought to this test? Have they abstained from violating the constitution? Let the 
many acts passed by the Northern states to set aside and annul the clause of the consti- 
tution providing for the delivery up of fugitive slaves, answer. I cite this, not that it 
is the only instance (for there are many others), but because the violation in this parti- 
cular is too notorious and palpable to be denied. Again, have they stood forth faith- 



8 

fully to repel violations of the constitution ? Let their course in reference to the 
agitation of the slavery question, which was commenced and has been carried on for 
fifteen years, avowedly for the purpose of abolishing slavery in the states — an object all 
acknowledge to be unconstitutional — answer. Let them show a single instance, during 
this long period, in which they have denounced the agitators, or their many attempts 
to effect what is admitted to be unconstitutional, or a single measure which they have 
brought forward for that purpose. How can we, with all those facts before us, believe 
that they are sincere in their professions of devotion to the Union ; or avoid believing 
that, by assuming the cloak of patriotism, their profession is but intended to increase 
the vigor of their assaults, and to weaken the force of our resistance.' 

Nor can we regard the profession of devotion to the Union, on the part of those who 
are not our assailants, as sincere, when they pronounce eulogies upon the Union evi- 
dently with the intent of charging us with disunion, without uttering one word of 
denunciation against our assailants. If friends of the Union, their course should be to 
unite with us in repelling these assaults, and denouncing the authors as enemies of the 
Union. Why they avoid this, and pursue the course they obviously do, it is for them 
to explain. 

Nor can the Union be saved by invoking the name of the illustrious Southerner whose 
mortal remains repose on the western bank of the Potomac. He was one of us — a slave- 
holder and a planter. We have studied his history, and find nothing in it to justify sub- 
mission to wrong. On the contrary, his great fiime rests on the solid foundation, that 
while he was careful to avoid doing wrong to others, he was prompt and decided in 
repelling wrong. I trust that, in this respect, we profited by his example. 

Nor can we find anything in his history to deter us from seceding from the Union, 
should it fail to fulfill the objects for which it was instituted, by being permanently and 
hopelessly converted into the means of oppression instead of protection. On the con- 
trary we find much in liis example to encourage us, should we be forced to the extremity 
of deciding between submission and disunion. 

There existed then as well as now, a union — that between the parent country and 
her then colonies. It was a union that had much to endear it to the people of the 
colonies. Under its protecting and superintending care the colonies were planted and 
grew up and prospered through a long course of years, until they became populous and 
wealthy. Its benefits were not limited to them. Their extensive agricultural and 
other productions gave birth to a flourishing commerce, whicli richly rewarded the 
parent country for the trouble and expense of establishing and protecting them. 
Washington was born, and nurtured, and grew up to manhood under that union. 
He acquired liis early distinction in its service ; and there is every reason to believe 
that he was devotedly attached to it. But his devotion was a rational one. He was 
attached to it, not as an end, but as a means to an end. When it failed to fulfill its end, 
and, instead of affording protection, was converted into the means of oppressing the 
colonies, he did not hesitate to draw his sword, and head the great movement hy which 
that union was forever severed, and the independence of these states established. This 
"Was tl>e great and crowning glory of his life, which has spread his fame over the whole 
globe, and will transmit it to the latest posterity. 

Nor can the plan proposed by the distinguished Senator from Kentucky, or that of 
the administr.ition, save the Union. I shall pass by, without remark, tlie plan pro- 
posed by the yenator, and proceed directly to the consideration of that of the adminis- 
tration. I however assure the distinguished and able Senator that, in taking this 
course, no disrespect whatever is intended to him or to his plan. I have adopted it, 
because so many Senators of distinguished abilities, Avho were present when he delivered 
his .speech and explanation of his plan, and who were fully capable to do justice to the 
side they supjiort, have replied to him. 

Tlie plan oi the administration cannot save the Union, because it can have no efi"ect 
toward satisfying the states composing the Southern section of the Union, that they can 
consistently with safety and honor remain in the Union. It is, in fact, but a modifica- 
tion of the Wiliiiot proviso. It proposes to effect the same object — to exclude the South 
from all the tci'ritory acquired by the Mexican t reat y. It is well known that the 
South is united against the Wilniot proviso, and has committed itself by solemn resolu- 
tions to resist, sliould it be adopted. Its oj)position is not to the name, but to that 
which it proposes to effect Tliat the Southern states hold it to be unconstitutional, 
unjust, inconsistent with their equality as members of the common Union, and calcu- 
lated to destr<iy irretrievably tlic equilibrium between the two sections. These objec- 
tions equally apply to what, for brevity, 1 will call the Executive proviso. There is no 
difference between it and tlie Wilmot, cxcejit in the mode of effecting the object; and 
in that rcspcit, I must say, th;it tlie latter is niucli tlie least objectionable. It goes to 
its object openly, boldly and directly. It claims for Congress unlimited power over the 
twritories, and proposes to assert it over the territories acquired from Mexico, by a 



positive prohibition of slavery. Not so the Executive proviso. It takes an indirect 
course, and in order to elude the Wilmot proviso, and thereby avoid encountering the 
united and determined resistance of the South, it denies, by implication, the authority 
of Congress to legislate for the territories, and claims the right as belonging exclusively 
to the inhabitants of the territories. But to effect the object of excluding the South, it 
takes care, in the mean time, of letting in emigrants from the Northern states, and other 
.quarters, except emigrants from the South, which it takes special care to exclude, by 
holding up to them the dread of having their slaves liberated under the Mexican laws. 
The necessary consequence is, to exclude the South from the territory, just as effectu- 
ally as would the Wilmot proviso. The only difference in this respect is, that what 
one proposes to effect directly and openly, the other proposes to effect indirectly and 
covertly. 

But the Executive proviso is more objectionable still than the Wilmot, in another 
and more important particular. The latter, to effect its object, inflicts a dangerous 
wound upon the constitution, by depriving the Southern states, as joint partners and 
owners of the territories, of their rights in them ; but it inflicts no greater wound than 
is absolutely necessary to effect its object. The former, on the contrary, while it 
inflicts the same wound, inflicts others equally great, and if possible greater, as I shall 
next proceed to explain. 

In claiming the right for the inhabitants, instead of Congress, to legislate over the 
territories, in the Executive proviso, it assumes that the sovereignty over the terri- 
tories is vested in the former ; or, to express it in the language used in a resolution 
offered by one of the Senators from Texas, (Gen. Houston, now absent,) " they have the 
same inherent right of self-government as the people in the states." The assumption 
is utterly false, unconstitutional, without example, and contrary to the entire practice 
of the government, from its commencement to the present time, as I shall next proceed 
to show. 

The recent movement of individuals in California to form a constitution and a state 
government, and to appoint Senators and Eepresentatives, is the first fruit of this 
monstrous assumption. If the individuals who have made this movement had gone 
into California as adventurers, and if, as such, they had conquered the territory, a'.id 
established their independence, the sovereignty of the country would have been vested 
,in them as a separate and independent community. In that case they would have had 
the right to form a constitution and to establish a government for themselves — and^ if, 
after that, they had thought proper to apply to Congress for admission into the Union 
as a sovereign and independent state, all this would have been regular and according 
to establiished principles. But such is not the case. It was the United States who con- 
quered California, and finally acquired it by treaty. The sovereignty, of course, is 
vested in them, and not in the individuals who have attempted to form a constitution 
as a state without their consent. All this is clear beyond controversy, unless it can 
be shown that they have since lost or been divested of their sovereignty. 

Nor is it less clear that the power of legislating over the territory is vested in Con- 
gress, and not, as is assumed, in the inhabitants of the territories. None can deny that 
the Government of the United States have the power to acquire territories, either by 
war or by treaty ; but if the power to acquire exists, it belongs to Congress to carry it 
into execution. On this point there can be no doubt, for the constitution expressly 
provides that Congress shall have power " to make all laws which sh all be neces- 
sary and proper to carry into execution the foregoing powers," (those vested in Con- 
gress) " and all other powers vested by this constitution in the government of the 
United States, or in any department or oflicer thereof." It matters not, then, where 
the power is vested ; for if vested at all in the government of the United States or any 
of its departments or officers, the power carrying it into execution is clearly vested in 
Congress. But this important proviso, while it gives to Congress the power of legis- 
lating over territories, imposes important restrictions on its exercise, by restricting 
Congress to passing laws necessary and proper for carrying the power into execution. 
The'prohibition extends, not only to all laws not suitable or appropriate to the object, 
but also to all that are unjust, unequal or unfair, for all such laws would be unnecessary 
and improper, and therefore, unconstitutional. 

Having now established beyond controversy that the sovereignty over the territories 
is vested in the United States— that is, in the several states composing the Union— and 
that the power of legislating over them is expressly vested in Congress, it follows that 
the individuals in California wiio have undertaken to form a constitution and a state, 
and to exercise the power of lej^islation, without the consent of Congress, have usurped 
the sovereignty of the states and the authority of Congress, and have acted in open de- 
fiance of both. In other words, what they have done is revolutionary and rebelhous in 
its character, anarchical in its tendency, and calculated to lead to the most dangerous 
consequences. Had they acted from premeditation and design, it would have been la 



10 

fact an actual rebellion, but such is not the case. The blame lies much leas upon them, 
than upon those who have induced them to take a course so unconstitutional and dan- 
gerous. They have been led into it by language held here, and the course pursued by 
the executive branch of the government. 

I have not seen the answer of the Executive to the calls made by the two houses of 
Congress, for information as to the course which it took, or the part which it acted, in 
reference to what was done in California. I understand the answers have not yet been 
printed. But there is enough known to justify the assertion that those who profess to 
represent and act under the authority of the Executive have advised, aided and en- 
couraged the movement which terminated in forming what they call a constitution and 
a state. General Riley, who professed to act as civil Governor, called the Convention, 
determined on the number and distribution of the delegates, appointed the time and place 
of its meetings, was present during the session, and gave its proceedings his approbation 
anl sanction. If he acted without authority, he ought to have been tried, or at least 
re])rimanded and disarmed Neither having Ijcen done, the presumption is that his 
course has been approved. This, of itself, is suflScient to identify the Executive with 
his acts, and to make it responsible for them. I touch not the question whether General 
Kiley was appointed, or received the instructions under which he professed to act, from 
the present Executive or its predecessor. If from the former, it would implicate the pre- 
ceding as well as the present administration. If not, the responsibility rests exclusively 
on the present. 

It is manifest, from this statement, that the Executive Department has undertaken to 
perform acts, preparatory to the meeting of the individuals, to form their so-called con- 
stitution and State government, which appertained exclusively to Congress. Indeed, they 
are identical in many respects with the provisions adopted by Congress, when it gives 
permission to a territory to form a constitution and government, in order to be admitted 
as a State into the Union. 

Having now shown that the assumption upon which the Executive and the individuals 
in California acted, throughout this whole affair, is informal, unconstitutional, and 
dangerous, it remains to make a few remarks, in order to show that what has been done 
is contrary to the entire practice of government, from its commencement to the present 
time. 

From its commencement until the time when Michigan was admitted, the practice was 
uniform. Territorial governments were first organized by Congress. The government 
of the United States appointed the governors, judges, secretaries, marshals, and otlier 
ofiScers, and the inhabitants of the territory were represented by legislative bodies, 
vrhose acts were subject to the revision of Congress. This state of things continued un- 
til the government of a territory applied to Congress to permit its inhabitants to form 
a constitution and government, preparatory to admission into the Union. The prelimi- 
nary act to giving permission was to ascertain whether the inhabitants were sufficiently 
numerous to authorize them to be formed into a State. This was done by taking a cen- 
sus. That being done, and the number proving sufficient, permission was granted. 
The act granting it fixed all the preliminaries — the time and place of holding the con- 
vention ; the qualification of the voters ; establishing its boundaries, and all other 
measures necessary to be settled previous to admission. The act giving permission ne- 
cessarily withdraws the sovereignty of the United States, and leaves tlie inhabitants of 
the incipient State as free to form their constitution and government as were the origi- 
nal States of the Union after they had declared their independence. At this stage, the 
inhabitants of the territory became for the first time a people, in legal and constitu- 
tional language. Prior to this, they were, by the old acts of Congress, called inhabi- 
tants, and not people. All this is perfectly consistent with the sovereignty of the 
United States, with the powers of Congress, and with the right of a people to self-go- 
Ternment. 

Michigan was the first case in which there was any departure from the uniform rule 
of acting. Hers was a very slight departure from established usage. The ordinance of 
'87 secured to her the right of becoming a State, when she should have 60,000 inhabi- 
tants. Owing to some neglect, Congress delayed taking the census. In the mean time, 
her population increased until it clearly exceeded more than twice the number which 
entitled licr to admission. At this stage she formed a constitution and government 
■without the census being taken by tlie United States, and Congress received the admis- 
sion without going through the'formality of taking it, as there was no doubt slie had 
more than a sufficient number to entitle her to admission She was not admitted at the 
first session she applied, owing to some difficulty respecting the boundary between her 
and Ohio. The great irregularity, as to her admission, took place at the next session, 
but on a point wiiich can liave no possible connection witli the case of California. 

The irregularity in all other cases that liave since occurred, is of a similar character. 
In all, there existed territorial governments, established by Congress, with officers ap- 



11 

9>ointed by the United States. In all, the territorial government took the lead in call- 
ing conventions, and fixing preliminaries, preparatory to the formation of a constitution 
and admission into the Union. They all recognized the sovereignty of the United 
States, and the authority of Congress over the territories ; and, whenever there was 
any departure from established usage, it was done on the presumed consent of Congress, 
and not in defiance of its authority, or the sovereignty of the United States over the ter- 
ritories. In this respect California stands alone, without usage or a single example to 
cover her case. 

It belongs now. Senators, for you to decide what part you will act in reference to this 
unprecedented transaction. The Executive has laid the paper purporting to be the 
• constitution of California before you, and asks you to admit her into the Union as a State, 
and the question is, will you or will you not admit her .' It is a grave question, and 
there rests upon you a heavy responsibility. Much, very much will depend upon your 
decision. If you admit her, you endorse and give your sanction to all that has been 
done. Are you prepared to do so .' Are you prepared to surrender your power of 
legislation for the territories — a power expressly vested in Congress by the constitu- 
tion, as has been fully established ? Can you, consistent with your oath to support the 
constitution, surrender it .' Are you prepared to admit that the inhabitants of the ter- 
ritories possess the sovereignty over them; and that any number, more or less, may 
claim any extent of territory they please ; may form a constitution and government, 
and erect it into a a State, without asking your permission .' Are you prepared to sur- 
render the sovereignty of the United States over whatever territory may be hereafter 
acquired, to the first adventurers who may rush into it .' Are you prepared to surren- 
der virtually to the Executive department all the powers which you have heretofore 
exercised over the territories .' If not, how can you, consistently with your duty and 
your oath to support the constitution, give your assent to the admission of California 
as a State, under a pretended constitution and '/overnment .' 

Can you believe that the project of a constitution which they have adopted has the least 
validity .' Can you believe that there is such a state in reality as the state of California ? 
No ; there is no such state. It has no legal or constitutional existence. It has no 
validity, and can have none, without your sanction. How then, can you admit it as a 
state, when, according to the provisions of the constitution, your power is limited to 
admitting new states.' That is, they must be states, existing states, independent of 
jrour sanction, before you can admit them. AVhen you give your permission to the in- 
habitants of a territory to form a constitution and a state, the constitution and state 
they form derive their authority from the people, and not from you. The state, before 
admitted, is actually a state, and does not become so by the act of admission, as would 
be the case with California, should you admit her, contrary to constitutional provi- 
sions and established usages heretofore. 

The Senators on the other side of the chamber must permit me to make a few remarks 
in this connection, particularly applicable to them. With the exception of a few Sena- 
tors from the South, sitting on that side of the chamber, when the Oregon question was 
before this body, not two years since, you took, if I mistake not, univei'sally, the 
ground that Congress had the sole and absolute power of legislating for the territories. 
How, then, can you now, after the short interval which has elapsed, abandon the 
ground which you then took, and thereby virtually admit that the power of legislating, 
instead of being in Congress, is in the inhabitants of the territories.' How can you 
justify and sanction by your votes the acts of the Executive, which are in direct dero- 
gation to what you then contended for .' But, to approach still nearer to the present 
time, how can you, after condemning, a little more than a year since, the grounds taken 
by the party which you defeated at the last election, wheel round and support by your 
votes the grounds which, as explained by the candidate of the party at the last elec- 
tion, are identical with those on which the Executive has acted in reference to Califor- 
nia ? What are we to understand by all this .' Must we conclude that there is no sin- 
cerity, no faith, in the acts and declaration of public men, and that all is mere acting 
or hollow professions .' Or are we to conclude that the exclusion of the South from the 
territories acquired from Mexico is an object of so paramount a character in your esti- 
mation that right, justice, constitution and consistency must all yield, when they stand 
in the way of our exclusion ? 

But, it may be asked, what is to be done with California, should she not he admit- 
ted ? I answer, remand her back to the territorial condition, as was done in the case 
of Tennessee, in the early stage of the government. Congress, in her case, had esta- 
blished a territorial government, in the usual form, with a Governor, Judges, and other 
of&cers appointed by the United States. She was entitled, under the deed of cession, 
to be admitted into the Union as a state, as soon as she had 60,000 inhabitants. The 
territorial government believing it had the number, took a census, by which it appear- 
ed it exceeded it. She then formed a constitution as a state, and applied for admission. 



12 

Congress refused to admit her, on the grounds that the census should be taken by the 
United States, and that Congress had not determined whether the territory should be 
formed into one or two states, as it was authorized to do, under the cession. She re- 
turned quietly to her territorial condition. An act was passed to take a census by the 
United States, and providing that the territory sliould form one state. All afterward 
was regularly conducted, and the territory admitted as a state in due form. The ir- 
regularitie.< in the case of California are immeasurably greater, and afford a much 
stronger r< ason for pursuing tlie same course. But, it may be said, California may not 
submit. That is not probable, but, if she should not, when she refuses, it will then be 
the time for us to decide what is to be done. 

Having now shown what cannot save the Union, I return to the question with which 
I commenced — How can the Union be saved .' There is but one way by which it can, 
with any curtainty, be saved, and that is by a full and final settlement, on the princi- 
ples of justif-e, of all the questions at issue between the two sections. The South asks 
for justice, ^^imple justice, and less slie ought not to take. She has no compromise to 
oflFer but tlio constitution, and no concessions or surrender to make. She has already 
surrendered so much, that she has little left to surrender. Such a settlement would 
go to the root of the evil, remove all cause of discontent, and satisfy the South that she 
could remain honestly and safely in the Union, and thereby restore the harmony and 
fraternal feelings between the sections which existed anterior to the Missouri agitation. 
Nothing else can, with any certainty, finally and forever settle the question at issue, 
terminate agitation, and save the Union. 

But can this be done .' Yes, easily ; not by the weaker party, for it can of itself do 
nothing — not even protect itself — but by the stronger. The North has only to will it, 
to do justice, and perform her duty, in order to accomplish it — to do justice by conced- 
ing to the South an equal right in the acquired territory; and to do her duty by caus- 
ing the stipulations relative to fugitive slaves to be faithfully fulfilled — to cease the 
agitation of the slave question, and provide for the insertion of a provision in the con- 
stitution, by an amendment, which will restore in substance the power she possessed 
of protecting herself before the equilibrium between the sections was destroyed by the 
action of this government. There will be no difficulty in devising such a provision — 
one that will protect the South, and which at the same time will improve and strength- 
en the government, instead of impairing or weakening it. 

But will the North agree to do this .' It is for her to answer this question. But I will 
say she cannot refuse if she has lialf the love of the Union which she professes to have, 
or without justly exposing herself to the charge that her love of power and ag:;randize- 
ment is far greater than her love of the Union. At all events, the responsibility of 
saving the Union is on the North, and not the South. The South cannot save it by 
any act of hers, and the North may save it without any sacrifice whatever, unless to 
do justice and to perform her duties under the constitution be regarded by her as a 
sacrifice. 

It is time. Senators, that there should be an open and manly avowal on all sides 
as to what is to be done. If the question is not now settled, it is uncertain whether 
it ever can hereafter be, and we, as the representatives of the states of this Union, 
regarded as governments, should come to a distinct understaniling as to our respec- 
tive views, in order to ascertain wliether the great questions at issue between the two 
sections can be settled or not. If you who represent the stronger portion cannot 
agree to settle them on the broad principle of justice and duty, say so, and let the 
states we represent agree to separate and part in peace. 

If you are willing we should part in peace, tell us so, and we shall know what to 
do when you reduce the question to submission or resistance. If you remain silent, 
you then compel us to infer what you intend. In that case California will become the 
test (juestidn. If you admit her under all the ilifficulties that oj)i)ose her admission, 
you compel us to infer tliat yovi intend to exclude us from the wlu)le of the acquired 
territories, with the intention of destroying irretrievably the equilibrium between the 
two section.s. We would be blind, not to perceive, in that case, that your real objects 
are power and aggrandizement; and infatiiated, not to act accordingly. 

I have now. Senators, done my duty, in expressing mj' opinions fully, freely and 
candidly on this solemn occasion. In doing , so, I liuve been governed ))y the motives 
which have governed me in all the stages of tlie agitation of the slavery question since 
its Commc!iceinent ; and exerted myself to arrest it, witli the intention of saving the 
Union, if it could be done; and, if it cannot, to save the section where it has pleased 
Providence to cast my lot, and which I sincerely believe has justice and the constitu- 
tion on its side. Having faithfully done my duty to the best of my ability, both to 
the Union and my seeticm, tliroughout the whole^ ot'this agitation, I shall have the con- 
solation, let what will come, thut 1 am free from all responsibility. 



SPEECH^ 

OF THE 

HON, DANIEL ¥ E B S T E E, 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 

ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 

[DELIVERED MARCH 7, 1850.] 



The Vice President stated the first business befoi'e the Senate to be the unfinished 
business of yesterday — the motion to refer to the Committee on Territories the message 
of the President of the United States, transmitting the constitution of California, upon 
which the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Walker] had the floor. 

Mr Walker. — Mr. President, this audience has not this morning assembled to hear 
me. There is but one man, in my opinion, Avho could have attracted them, and they 
expect to hear him. I feel it my duty, as well as my pleasure, to yield the floor to the 
honorable senator from Massachusetts, as I understand it is not material with him 
upon which of the two questions before the Senate he speaks. 

Mr. Webster. — Before I go on I must return my thanks to the Senator from Wiscon- 
sin [Mr. Walker] and the Senator from New York [Mr. Seward] for their kind 
courtesy in allowing me to address the Senate this morning. 

I wish to speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, but as 
an American, and a member of the Senate of the United States. It is fortunate there 
is a Senate of the United States — a body not moved from its propriety, not lost to a just 
sense of its own dignity or its own high responsibility — a body to which the country 
looks with confidence — wise, moderate, patriotic, and with true feeling. It is not to be 
denied that we live in the midst of strong agitations, and in the midst of very consider- 
able dangers to our institutions of government. The imprisoned winds are let loose. 
" The East, the North, and the stormy South, are all combined to make the whole ocean 
toss its billows to the skies, and disclose its profoundest depths." I do not affect to hold, 
or to be fit to hold, the helm in this combat with the political elements ; but I have a 
duty to perform, and I mean to perform it with fidelity — not without a sense of sur- 
rounding dangers, but not without hope. I have a part to act, not for my own security 
or safety — for I am looking out for no fragment upon which to float away from the 
wreck, if wreck is to ensue — but for the good of the whole and the preservation of the 
•whole. There is that which will keep me to my duty during this struggle, whether the 
sun and the stars shall appear or shall not appear for many days. 

I speak to day for the preservation of the Union, " Hear me for my cause." I speak 
to-day from a solicitous and anxious desire for the restoration to the country of that 
quiet and that harmony which make the blessings of this Union so rich and so dear to 
us all. " Believe me for mine honor." These are the topics that I propose to myself 
to discuss. These are the motives and the sole motives to influence me to communicate 
my opinions to the Senate and to the country ; and if I can do any thing, however little, 
for the promotion of these ends, I shall have accomplished all that I wish. 

Mr. President, it may not be amiss to recur very briefly to the events, equally sudden 
and extraordinary, which have brought the political condition of this country to be 
what it now is. In May, 1846, the United States declared war against Mexico. Our 
armies, then on the frontiers, entered the provinces of that republic, met and defeated 
all her troops, penetrated her mountain passes, and occupied her capital. The marine 
forces of the United States took po-ssession of her ports and towns on the Atlantic and 
the Pacific. In less than two years a treaty was negotiated, by which Mexico ceded to 
the United States a vast extent of territory, extending for seven or eight hundred miles 
along the shores of the Pacific, running back over the mountains and across the deserts, 
till it reached the frontier State of Texas. It so happened that, in the distracted and 
feeble state of the Mexican government, before the declaration of war by the United 
States against Mexico had become known in California,* he people of California, under 
the direction of American officers, perhaps— Colonel l>oniphan in particular — over- 
turned the existing provincial government of California, of Mexican authority, and run 



14 

up an independent flag. When the news arrived at San Francisco, that war had been 
declared by the UniteJ States against Mexico, this independent flag was pulled down, 
and the stars and stripes of this government hoisted in its stead. So, sir, before the 
war was over, the powers of the United States, military and naval, had possession of 
Upper California, and a great rush of emigrants, from various portions of the world, 
took place into California in 1846 and 1857. 

And nov,- behold another wonder. In January 1848, the Mormons it is said, or some 
of them, m ide a discovery of an extraordinary rich mine of gold — or rather of a very 
great quai: ity of gold, hardh^ fitted to be called a mine, because it lay so near the sur- 
face — at t!.. lower part of the South or American branch of the Sacramento. They 
endeavore ■ to conceal their discovery, and did so for some time. Near the same time 
another discovery — perhaps of greater importance — was made of gold in a higher part 
of the Amciican branch of the Sacramento, and near to the fort so called. The fame of 
those discoveries spread far and wide. This excited more and more that spirit of emi- 
gration to^v.irds California wliich had already taken place. Persons crowded in hun- 
dreds and flocks towards the Bay of San Francisco. This, as I have said, took place in 
the winter and spring of 1848. The " diggings" commenced in the spring of that year ; 
and from tiiat time to this, the search for gold has been prosecuted with a success not 
heretofore known in the history of tlie globe. We all know how incredulous the Ameri- 
can public was of the accounts which first reached us of this discover}- . But we all 
know that they received and continue to receive daily confirmation ; and down to the 
present moment, I suppose that the assurances are as strong, after the experience of 
those several months, that there are mines of gold apparently inexhaustible in the re- 
gions near San Francisco, in California, as they were at any period of the early trans- 
mission to us of those accounts. 

It so happened tliat, although in a time of peace, it became a very great subject for 
legislative consideration and legislative decision to provide a proper territorial govern- 
ment for California : but ditferenees of opinion in the councils of the government pre- 
vented the establishment of any such territorial government for California at the last 
session of Congress. Under this state of things, the inhabitants of San Francisco and 
California, then amounting to a great number of persons, in the summer of last year, 
though, it their duty to establish a local government. Under the proclamation of 
General Riley, the people chose delegates to a convention, and that convention met 
at Monterey. They framed a constitution for the State of California. It was adopted 
by the people of California in their primary character. Desirous of immediate con- 
nection with the United States, senators were appointed, and representatives chosen, 
who have come hither, bringing with them the authenticated constitution of the State 
of California, and they now present themselves, asking, in behalf of that State, that it 
may be admitted into the Union as one of the United States. This constitution con- 
tains an express prohibition against slavery or involuntary servitude in the State of 
California. It is said, and I suppose truly, that of the members who composed the 
convention, some thirty were natives and had been residents of the slaveholding 
States, and the residue, perhaps about twenty, were not such. 
Mr. Hale — Will the honorable Senator give way till order is restored ? 
Mr. Cass — I trust, Mr. President, that the scene of the other day will not be renewed 
to-day. The Sergeant-at-Arms should display more energy, and take care to preserve 
order. 

The Vice President — The Sergeant-at-Arms will close the doors, and permit no 
more to be admitted. 
Order being restored, 

Mr. Webster resumed. It is this circumstance that has contributed to raise — I do 
not say that it has wholly raised — a dispute upon the propriety of the admission of 
California into the Unioh under these circumstances. 

It is not to be denied, I\Ir. President — nobody thinks of denying — that, whatever 
reasons were assigned for the commencement of the late war with Mexico, it was pros- 
ecuted for the accjuisition of territory, and under the argument that the cession of ter- 
ritory was the only form in which proper compensation could be made to tlie United 
States by Mexico for various claims and demands which the people of this country had 
against her. At any rate, it will be found that President I'olk, in a message at the 
commencement of tlie session in December, 1847, avowed that tlie war was to be 
prosecuted till some acquisition of territory was obtained. And as the acquisition was 
south of the line of the United States, in warm climates and countries, it was naturally 
expected, I suppose, by the South, that whatever acquisitions were made in that region 
would be added to the slaveholding part of the United States. Events have turned 
out as was not expected, and iliat expectation has not been realized; and tiierefore, in- 
some degree, disappointment and surprise have been excited. In other words, it is 
obvious that tlie (juestion whicli has so long harassed the country, and at some times 
very seriously alarmed the minds of wise and good men, has come upon us for a fresh. 
discuBsion — the question of slavery in these United States 



15 

Now. sir, I propose, perhaps at some little expense to the attention of the Senate, to 
review'historically this question of slavery, which, partly in consequence of its own acts, 
and partly in consequence of the manner in which it has been discussed in one and the 
other portions of the country, has been the source of so much alienation and unkind 
feeling in dilferent portions of the United States. We all know that slavery has existed 
in the world from time immemorial. There was slavery in the earliest histoiy of ori- 
ental nations. There was slavery among the Jews. The theocratic government of that 
people made no injunctions against it. There was slavery among the Greeks ; and the 
ingenious philosophy of the Greeks found, or sought to find, a justification of it exactly up- 
on the grounds which have been assumed for such a justification in this country, that 
is, a natural and original difference between the races of mankind— the inferiority of 
the colored or black race to the white. The Greeks justified their system of slavery 
upon that ground precisely. They held the Africans and some portions of the Asiatic 
tribes to be inferior to the white race. Thej' did not show, I think, by any close pro- 
cess of logic, that, if that were true, the more intelligent and the stronger had therefore 
the right to subjugate the weaker. A more manly philosophy and jurisprudence of 
the Romans placed the justification on entirely different grounds. The Roman jurists, 
from the very first dawn to the fall of the empire, admitted that slavery was against the 
natural law, b3' which they maintained that all men, of whatever clime, color, or ca- 
pacity, were equal. But they justified slavery, first, upon the authority of the laws of 
nations, arguing, and arguing truly, that at that day the conventional law of nations 
admitted that captives in war — whose lives, according to the notion of that time, were 
at the absolute disposal of the captor — might, in exchange for exemption from death, be 
made slaves for life, and that that servitude might descend to their posterity. The 
jurists of Rome also maintained that by the civil law there might be servitude and 
slavery, personal and hereditary : first, by the voluntary act of the individual, who 
might sell himself into slavery ; secondly, by his being received into a state of servitude 
by his creditors, to satisfy the debts he had incurred ; and thirdly, by being placed in 
a state of servitude or slavery for crime. 

At the introduction of Cliristianity into the world, the Roman empire was full of 
slaves. I suppose there is to be found no injunction against that relation between man 
and man in the teachings of the Gospel by Jesus Christ, or by any of his apostles. The 
object of the instructions given to mankind by the founder of Christianity was to touch 
the heart, purify the soul, and improve the lives of individual men. That object went 
directly to the first foundation of the political and social relations of men, to raise the 
individual heart and mind of man. Now, sir, upon the general nature, and character, 
and lawfulness of slavery, there exists a wide difference of opinion between the North- 
ern portion of this country and the Southern. It is said, on the other side, that if not 
the subject of any injunction, or any direct prohibition in the New Testament, slavery 
is a wrong ; that it is founded merely in the right of the strongest ; that it is oppres- 
sion ; it is like all unjust wars ; like all those conflicts by which mighty nations sub- 
ject weaker nations to their will. They think slavery, in its nature — whatever can be 
said of it in the modifications which take place in it in fact — is not according to the 
" meek spirit" of the apostle; it is not " kindly aff'ection ;" it does not " seek another's, 
and not its own ;" it does not " let the oppressed go free." Those are sentiments that 
are cherished, recently with greatly augmented force, among the people of the North- 
ern states. They have taken hold of the religious sentiment of that part of the country, 
as they have more or less taken hold of the religious feelings of a considerable portion 
of mankind. 

The South, upon the other side, having been accustomed to this relation between the 
races all their lives, from their birth — having been taught, in general, to treat the sub- 
jects of this bondage with care and kindness, and I believe, in general, to feel for them 
great care and kindness — have not taken this view of the subject which I have men- 
tioned. There are thousands of religious men, with consciences as tender as those of 
any of their brethren at the North, who do not see the unlawfulness of slavery ; and 
there are more, thousands, perhaps, that, whatever they may think of it in its origin, 
and as a matter depending upon natural right, yet take things as they are, find slavery 
to be an establislied relation of society where they live, and see no way in which — let 
their opinions upon the abstract question be what they may — it is in the power of the 
present generation to relieve themselves from this relation. Aud, in this respect, can- 
dor obliges me to say that I believe they are just as conscientious, many of them — and 
of the religious people, all of them — as we are in the North, holding different senti- 
ments. 

Why, sir, the honorable member from South Carolina [Mr. Calhoun] the other day al- 
luded to the separation of that great religious community, the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. That separation was brought about by differences of opinion upon this par- 
ticular subject of slaverJ^ I felt great concern, as that dispute went on, about the re- 
sult. I was anxious — I was in hope — that the differences of opinion might be healed ; 
because I look upon that religious community as one of the great props of religion and 



16 

morals throughout the whole country, from Maine to New Orleans. The result was 
against my wishes and against my hopes. I have read all their proceedings, all their 
arguments ; but I have never yet been able to come to the conclusion that there was any 
real ground for that separation — in other words, that any good could be produced by 
that separation. 

Sir, when questions of this kind take hold of the religious sentiments of mankind, 
and come to be discussed in reliijious assemblies, by clergy and laity, there is always to 
be expected, and always to be feared, a great degree of excitement. It is in the nature 
of man, manifested by his whole history, that religious disputes are apt to become 
warm. Men's strength of conviction is proportioned to their view of the magnitude of 
the question. 

In all such disputes, there will sometimes be men to be found, with whom everything 
will be absolutely wrong or absolutely right. They see the right clearly ; they think 
others ought to — and they are disposed to establish a broad line of distinction between 
what they think right and what they hold to be wrong, and they are not seldom willing 
to establish that line upon their own conviction of the truth and justice of their own opin- 
ions. They are willing to mark and guard by placing along it a series of dogmas, as 
lines of boundary are marked by setting posts and stones 

There are men who, with clear perceptions, as they think, of their own duty, do not 
see how too hot a pursuit of one duty may involve them in the violation of others, or 
how too warm an embracement of one truth may lead them to disregard other truths 
equally important. As I heard it stated strongly, sir, not many days ago, these per- 
sons are disposed to mount upon some duty as a war-horse, to drive furiously in, and 
upon, and over, all other duties that may stand in the way. 

There are men who, in times of that sort, and in disputes of that sort, are of opinion 
that human duties may be ascertained with the precision of mathematics. They deal 
with morals as with mathematics, and they think that what is right may be distinguish- 
ed from what is wrong with all the precision of an algebraic equation. They have, 
therefore, none too much charity towards others who differ from them. They are apt 
to think that nothing is good but what is perfectly good ; that there are no compromises 
or modifications to be made in submission to difference of opinion, or in deference to 
other men's judgment. If their perspicacious vision enables them to detect a spot on 
the face of the sun, they think that a good reason why the sun should be struck down 
from heaven. They prefer the chance of running into utter darkness, to living in 
heavenly light, if that heavenly light is to be not absolutely without any imperfection. 

These are impatient men, too impatient always to give heed to the admonition of St. 
Paul, that we are not " to do evil that good may come," too impatient to wait for the slow 
progress of moral causes in V\<i improvement of mankind. Thej' do not remember that 
the doctrines and the miracles of Jesus Christ have, in 1800 years, converted only a small 
portion of the human race ; and, among the nations converted to Christianity, they 
forget how many vices and crimes, public and private, still prevail, and that many of 
them — the public crimes especially — offences against the Christian religion, pass with- 
out exciting particular regret or indignation. Thus wars are waged, and unjust 
wars. I do not deny that there may be just wars ; there certainly are ; but it was the 
remark of an eminent person, not many years ago, upon the other side of the Atlantic, 
that it was one of the greatest reproaches to human nature that wars were sometimes 
necessary for the defence of nations — that they were sometimes cnlled for against the in- 
justice of other nations. 

In this state of sentiment upon the general nature of slavery lies the cause for a great 
portion of these unhappy divisions, exasperations, and reproaches, which find vent and 
support in different parts of the Union. Slavery does exist in the United States. It 
did exist in the States before the adoption of this constitution, and at the time of its 
adoption. And now let us consider, for a moment, what was the state of sentiment in 
the North and the South in regard to slavery at the time this constitution was adopted. 
A remarkable change has taken place since. What did the wise and good men of all 
parts of the country think of slavery.' In what estimation did they hold it in 1787, 
when this constitution was adopted .' It will be found, sir, if we carry ourselves, by 
historical research, back to that day, and ascertain men's opinions by autlientic records 
still existing among us, that there was no great diversity of opinion between the North 
and the South upon the subject of slavery ; and it will be found that botli parts of the 
country held it equally an evil — a moral and political evil. It will not be found that 
either at the North or at the South there was mucli — though there was some — invective 
against slavery, as inliuraan and cruel. The great ground of objection to it was politi- 
cal; that it weakened the social fabric ; tliiit, taking the place of free labor, society was 
less strong and labor less productive. Therefore we find from all the eminent men of the 
South the clearest expression of their opinion that slaverj' was an evil ; and they ascribe 
it — not without truth, and not without some acerbity of temper and force of language — 
to tlie injurious policy of the mother country, which, to favor the navigator, had en- 
tailed the evil upon the colonics. I need hardly refer to the publications of the day, or 



17 

to the matters of history npon record. The most eminent men, nearly all the conspicu- 
ous men, in all the South, held the same sentiments ; that slavery was an evil ; it was 
a blight ; it was a blast ; it was a mildew ; it was a scourge ; it was a curse. There 
were no terms of reprobation so violent in the North at that day as in the South. The 
North was not so much excited against it as the Sijuth. And the reason was, 1 suppose, 
that there was much less of it in the North than iu the South : and the people did not 
see, or did not think they saw, the evils so prominently as they were seen, or thought 
to be seen, in the South. 

Then, sir, when this constitution was formed, this was the light in which the conven- 
tion viewed it. The convention reflected the judgment and the sentiment of the great 
men of the South. A member of the other Hou!<e, whom I have not the honor to know, 
in a recent speech, has collected extracts from these published documents. They prove 
the truth of what I have said. The question then was how to deal with slavery, and 
how to deal with it as an evil. They came to this general result : they thought that 
slavery could not continue in the country if the importation of slaves should cease ; and 
they tberefore provided that for a certain period the importation of slaves might be pre- 
vented by the action of the new government. Twentj' years were proposed by some 
gentleman — a northern gentlenan, I think. Many of the southern gentlemen opposed 
it, as being too long. Mr. Madison especially was somewhat warm again-^t it, and said 
it would bring too great an amount of that mischief into the country to allow the impor- 
tation of slaves for such a period ; because, in the whole of this discussion, when we are 
considering the sentiments and opinions in which this constitutional provision origi- 
nated, we must take along with us the fact, that the conviction of all men was, ihat if 
the importation of slaves ceased, the white race would multiply foster than the black 
race, and that slavery would therefore gradually wear out and expire. 

It may not be improper here to allude to that — I had almost said celebrated — opinion 1 
of Mr. Madison. You observe, sir, that term slavery is not used in the constitution. : 
The consiitution does not require that fugitive slaves shall be delivered up; it requires = 
that persons bound to service in one state, and escaping into another, shall be delivered 
ap. Mr. Madison opposed the introduction of the term slave or slavery into the coasti- 
tution ; for he said he did not wish to see it recognized by the constitution of the United 
States of America that there could be property in man. 

All this took place in the convention of 1787 ; but connected with this, and contem- 
poraneous with it, is another important consideration not sufficiently attended to. The 
convention for forming this constitution assembled in Philadelphia in May, and sat un- 
til December, 1787. During all that time, the Congress of the United States was in 
session at New York. It was a matter of design, iis we know, that the convention 
should not assemble in the same State where Congress was holding ita session. Almost 
all the public men of the country, therefore, of distinction and eminence, were in one 
or the other of these two assemblies ; and I think it happened in some instances that 
the same gentlemen were members of both. If I mi-a'.e not, such was the case with 
Mr. RuFUs King, then a member of Congress from jMassachusetts, and at the same 
time a member from Massachusetts of the Convention which formed the Constitution. 
It was in the summier of 1787, and at the very time when the Convention in Philadel- 
phia was framing this Constitution, that the Congress in New York was framing the 
ordinance of 1787. And they passed that ordinance on the 13th of July, 1787, at New 
York — the very month, and perhaps the very day, in which these questions of the impor- 
tation of slaves and the character of slavery were debated in the Convention in Philadel- 
phia. So far as we can now learn, there was a perfect concurrence of opinion between 
these respective bodies. It resulted in this : The ordinance of 1787, excluding slavery, 
was applied to all the territory over which the Congress of the United States had juris- 
diction ; that is, to all the territory Northwest of the Ohio. Three years before, Vir- 
ginia and other States had made a cession of that great territory to the United States ; 
and a most mngnificent act it was. I never reflect upon it without a disposition to do 
honor and justice — and justice would be the highest honor — to Virginia for that act of 
cession of the Northwestern Territory. I will say, sir, that it is one of her fairest 
claims to the respect and gratitude of the United States, and that perhaps it is only 
second to that other claim which attaches to her ; which is, that from her counsels, and 
from the intelligence and patriotism of her leading statesmen, proceeded the first idea 
put in practice for the formation of a general Constitution of the United States. 

This ordinance of 1787, applyingthus tothe whole territory over which the Congress 
of the United States had any jurisdiction, was adopted nearly two years before the 
Constitution of the United States went into operation ; because the ordinance took ef- 
fect immediately upon its passage, while the constitution, after having been framed, 
was to be sent to the States, to be debated in their conventions, and to be adopted 
by them, and then the government was to be organized under it. This ordinance, 
3 



18 

therefore, wafs in full operation and force when the constitution was adopted and its 
government put in motion, in March or April, 1789. 

Mr. President, three things are quite clear as historical truths : One is, that there 
was an expectation that upon the ceasing of the importation of slaves from Africa, sla- 
very would begin to run out. That was hoped and expected. Another is, that so far 
as there was any power in Congres.s to prevent the spread of slavery in the United 
States that power w.is executed in the most absolute manner, and to the fullest ex- 
tent. An honorable gentleman, whose health does not allow him to be here to-day, 
[Mr. Calhoun,] said tlie other day in a speech to the Senate — 

A Senator. He is here. 

Mr. Webster. I am very happy he is here. May he long be here in health, and in 
the enjoyment of strength to serve his country ! The honorable member said that he 
considered this as the first in a series of measures calculated to enfeeble the South, and 
to deprive them of their just participation in the benefits and privileges of the govern- 
ment. He says, very properly, that it was done under the old confederation, and be- 
fore this constitution went into eflFect. — My present purpose is only to say that it was 
done with the entire and unanimous concurrence of the whole South. There it stands. 
The vote of every State in the Union was unanimous in favor of that ordinance, with 
the exception of a single individual, and that individual was a northern member — 
while for that ordinance prohibiting slavery northwest of the Ohio, are the hand and 
seal of every Southern member in Congress. This was the state of things, and the 
state of opinion under which these two very important matters were arranged, and these 
two important things done ; that is, the adoption of the constitution and the recognition 
of slavery as it existed in the States, and the establishment of the ordinance prohibit- 
ing to the full extent of all territory owned by the United States, the introduction or 
existence of slavery. 

And here, sir, we may pause. We may reflect for a moment upon that entire coin- 
cidence and concurrence of sentiment beti^en the North and the South upon this 
question at the period of the adoption of the constitution. But opinion has changed — 
greatly changed — changed North and changed South. Slavery is not regarded in the 
South r; .v.- as it was then. I see before me an honorable member of this botly, [Mr. 
Mason,] paying me the honor to listen to my remarks, who brings to me freshly and 
vividly .he sentiments of his great ancestor — so much distinguished in his day and 
generation, so worthy to be succeeded by so worthy a grandson — with all the strength 
and earnestness of the sentiments which he expressed in the convention in Philadel- 
plua. 

Here we may pause. There was a unanimity of sentiment, if not a general concur- 
rence of sentiment, running through the whole community, but especially entertained 
by the eminent men of all portions of this country, in regard to this subject. But soon 
a changw began. North and South. A change began, and a severance of opinion sooh 
showed it — the North growing much more strong ami warm against slavery, and the 
South glowing much more strong and warm in its favor. There is no generation of 
mankind whose opinions are not subject to be influenced by what appears to be their 
present and emergent interest. I impute to the South no particular interested view in 
the change which has now come over her. I impute to her, certainly, no dishonor- 
able views. All that has happened has been natural. It has followed causes which al- 
ways influence the human mind and operate upon it. 

What, then, has been the cause which has created so warm a feeling in favor of sla- 
very at the South .' — wliich has clianged the whole nomenclature of the South in rela- 
tion to this suliject .' — so that, instead of being referred to as an evil, a blight, a curse, 
slavery has now come to be an institution to be cherished — not a scourge and a mis- 
fortune to be deprecated, but a great political, social, and moral blessing, as I think I 
have heard it lately describeil. Well 1 suppose that this i.s owing to the sudden, sur- 
prising, and rapid growth of the cotton planting interest in the South. So far as any 
motive but honor and justice, and the general judgment has acted in forming their 
present opinions, this cotton interest has doubtless acted. It was this which gave to 
the South a new desire to promote slavery, to spread it, and to use this species of 
labor. — I again say that this was produced by causes which wo must always expect to 
produce like eflects. Men's interests became more deeply involved in it. If we look 
back to the history of the commerce of this country at the time of its commencement, 
what were our exports .' Cotton was hardly raised at all. The tables will show that 
the exportation of cotton in the years 17'JO and 1791 was hardly more than forty or 
fifty thousand dollars a year. It lias gone on, increasing rapidly till it amounts now in 
a year of large product and high prices, to more than one hundred millions of d(dlars ! 
Then there was more of flax, more of indigo, more of rice, more of almost anything 
else exported from the South than of cotton. I think that I have heard it said that, 
when Mr. Jefiferson negotiated the treaty of 1794 with Great Britain, he did not know 



19 

that any cotton WIS raised in this country ; and that when, under that treaty, which 
gave the United States the right to carry their own products in their own ships to 
British ports, a shipment of cotton was sent to Enghmd, the British custom-houses re- 
fused to admit it under the treaty, on the grouml that there was none of that article 
raised in America. They would hardly say that now. — [Laughter.] Well, we all 
know that this cotton age has become a golden age for our Southern brethren. — It gra- 
tified their desire for improvement and for extending taeir operations. That desire 
grew with what it fed upon : and there soon came to be a greediness for otlier territory 
— a new area, or new areas, for the cultivation of the cotton crop; and measures were 
brought about one after another, under the lead of Southern gentlemen at the Iiead of 
the government (they liave a majority concurring in both brraiches of the legislature), 
to accomplish tlieseends. 

The honorable Senator from South Carolina observed in his speech the other day 
that tlie Nortli have a fi.'ied majority in every department of the government. If that 
be true the North have acted very liberally and kindly, or else very weakly ; for tlicy 
have never exerted the power which that majority gives them five times in the whole 
history of the government. Whether they have been generous, or whether they were 
outgeneralled, I will not stop to discuss ; but no one acquainted with the history of his 
country can deny that the general lead in the politics of this country, during three- 
fourths of the period which has elapsed since the formation of this government, has 
been a southern lead. 

In 1802, in pursuit of the idea of opening new cotton regions, the. United States ob- 
tained the cession from Georgia of her western territory, now embracing the rich and 
growing State of Alabama. In 1803, Louisiana was purchased from France, out of 
which the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri, have been formed as slave- 
holding States. In 1819 tlio cession of Florida was made, bringing another addition of 
slaveholding property and territory. 

The honorable Senator from South Carolina thought he saw in certain operations of 
the government, such as the manner of collecting the revenue, and the tendencj' of cer- 
tain measures to promote immigration into the country, and so on, the causes for the 
more rapid grov.^th of the North thau of the South. Re thinks that they were not the 
operations of time, but of the system of government which has been pursued. That is 
a matter of opinion. In a certain measure it may be so : but it docs seem to me that, 
if any operations of the government can be shown to have promoted the population, and 
growth, and wealth of the North, there are sundry important and distinct operations 
of the Government, about which no man can doubt tending to promote, and absolutely 
known to have promoted, the slave States and the slave territory at the South. Allow 
me to say that it was not time tliat brought Louisiana in. but the act of man ; it was not 
by the silent operation of time that Florida came in, but by the act of man ; and, then, 
to complete these acts of man, which have contributed so much to enlarge the area and 
sphere of this institution of slavery, Texas — great, vast,' illimitable Texas — was added 
to the Union as a slave State in 1845, and that, sir, pretty much closed the chapter and 
settled the whole account. It closed the whole chapter and settled tlie whole account, 
because the annexation of Texas, upon the conditions and under the guaranties upon 
which she was admitted, did not leave an acre of land capable of being cultivated by 
slave labor between this Capital and the Rio Grande or the Nueces, whichever is the 
proper boundary of Texas. Not an acre remained from that moment, sir. The whole 
country, from here to the western boundary of Texas, was fixed, pledged, decided to be 
slaveholding territory, by the most ample guaranties of law. 

,5 iAnd I now say, as the proposition upon which I stand this day, and upon the truth 
and firmness of which I intend to act until it is overthrown, that there is not at this 
moment within the United States, or within the Territories, a single foot of land the 
character of which, in regard to its being free-soil territory or slave territory, is not 
fixed by some law, and some irrepealable law — a law beyond the power of the action of 
this government. Now, is not that so with respect to Texas .' Indeed, it is most mani- 
festly so. The honorable gentleman from South Carolina, [Mr. Calhoun,] at the 
time of the admission of Texas, held an important post in the executive department of 
government. He was Secretary of State. Another eminent person of ^;reat activity 
and adroitness of powers — I mean the late Secretary of the Treasury, [Mr. Walker] — 
was a leading member of this body : they took the lead in the business of annexation i 
and I must say that they did their work faithfully — there was no botch in it. [Laugh- 
ter. J They rounded it off and made it as close joiners' work as ever was put together. 
The resolutions of annexation were brought into Congress fitly joined together- com- 
pact, firm, eSicient, conclusive upon the great object which they had in view. Allow 
me to read a resolution. It is the third clause in the second section of the resolutions 
of the 1st of March, 1845, for the admission of Texas. That article reads in these 
■words — 



2Q 

" New states of coBveiiient size, not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas, 
and having suflicient population, may hereafter. Ijy the consent of said State, be formed out of the ter- 
ritory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the federal constitution. 
And such Slates as may be formed out of tliat portion of said territory lying soutli of thirty-six degiees 
thirty minutes north lolittide, rommtinly known as the Missouri comjiromise line, shall be admitted 
into tl;e Union with or without slavery, as the people of each State asking admission may desire.'' 

Ar.d then there is a provision that such territory as lies north of the Missouri com 
prouiise Hue shall he free States : — 

•''^ And suoh State or States as shall be formed out of said territoiy, north of said- J'issouri com- 
promise line, slavery or involuntary servitude (except for crime) shall be prohibited. 

Well, now, what is here pledged, stipulated for, enacted, secured .' Why, it is that 
all Texas south of 36 deg 30 min., which is nearly the whole of it, shall be admitted 
into the Union as a State — it was a slave State, and therefore it all came in as a slave 
State — and that new States shall be made out of it; and that such States, being formed 
out of that portion of Texas which lies south of 36 deg. 30 min., may come in as slave 
States, to the number of four, in addition to the State then in existence, and admitted 
under t];e resolution. Now, sir, I know of no formula, no mode of legislation, which 
can strengthen that resolution. I know no formal recognition of Congress that can add 
a title to it. 

I listened with respectful attention to my honorable friend from Tennessee, [Mr. 
Bel!.], containing a proposition to recognize that stipulation with Texas. Why, sir, 
any additional recognition of it would weaken its force, because it stands here upon the 
ground of a compact for consideration. It is a law — a law founded in a contract with 
Texas, and is destined to carry that contract into eflFect. Recognition of the contract, 
for the purpose suggested, would not leave it as strong as it stands now upon thcfiice 
of the original resolution. 

Now, I know of no way — I candidly confess I know cf no way — in which this govern- 
ment, acting in good faith — as I trust it always will — can relieve itself from that com- 
mitment, stipulation, and pledge, by any honest course of legislation upon it ; and 
therefore I say that, so far as Texas is concerned — the whole of Texas south of 36 deg 
30 min., which I suppose embraces all the slave territory — there is no land, not an 
acre, the character of which is not established by law, and by law which cannot be re- 
pealed, without a violation of contract. 

I hope, sir, it is now apparent that my proposition, so far as Texas is concerned, 
is made plain. And, sir, the provision in these articles — as has been well suggest- 
ed by my friend — that that part of Texas which lies north of 36 deg. may be formed 
into free states, is dependent likewise upon the consent of Texas, herself a slaveholding 
state. 

Well, now, how came it that these laws — when it is said by the honorable Senator 
from South Carolina that the free states have the majority — how came it that these 
resolutions of aHsexation, such I have described them, found a majority in both Houses 
of Congress .' Why, sir, they found that majority by a vast addition of northern votes 
to a great portion of the southern votes. It was made up of northern votes. In the 
House of Representatives it stood, I think, about eighty southern votes for the admis- 
sion of Texas, and about fifty northern fotes. 

Mr. Davis, of Massachusetts, (in his seat). All the Democrats were on one side. 
Mr. Webster. —I shall not forget that. [Laughter.] In the Senate the votes stood 
27 for the admission of Texas, and 25 against it; and of these 27 votes, constituting a 
majority for its ailmission, not less than 13 of them came from the free states, and 4 of 
them from New England. So you see one-half of all the votes of this body for the ad- 
mission of Texas, with this immeasurable extent of slave territory, was formed by Free 
Soil votes. 

Sir, there is not so remarkable a chapter in our history of political votes, of political 
parties, of political men, as is afforded by this majority for the admission of Texas, with 
this territory that a bird cannot fly over in a week. [Laughter] New England, with 
some of her votes, .supported this measure. Three-quarters of the votes of liberty-loT- 
ing Connecticut were given for it in the other House, and one-half here. And there 
Tfvas one vote for it in Maine — not, I am happy to say, tlie vote of the honorable member 
■who addressed us day before yesterday, [Mr. Hamlin], who was then a member of the 
other House from Maine But tliere was one vde from that state; ay, sir, tliere wns 
one vote for it in Mnssachusett.s — a gentleman then and now living in, and formerly 
representing a district in which the prevalence of free- soil sentiments lias for a couple 
of years deteateil the choice of any member of Congress. The body of eastern men who 
gave their votes thus at that time, or soon after, took upon themselves the nomencla- 
ture of the northern democracy. They were to wield the destiny of this emjiire, if I 
may call a republic an empire : and their policy was — and they ])ersisted in it — to bring 
into this conntry all the territory they could. They did it under pleilgcs — alisolute 
pledges — t(j slavery, in case of Texas. And afterwards, in the case of this new conquest 
vhcn the honorable Senator from Georgia [Mr. Berrien], in March, 1847, moved that 



y 



the Senate should declare that the war ought not to he prosecuted for the purpose of 
acquisition, conquest, and the dismemberment of Mexico — the same northern democracy 
unanimously voted against it. It did not get a vote from them. It s-nited the views, 
patriotism, and lofty sentiment of nort/iern democracy to bring in a world among the 
mountains and valleys of New Mexico, or the northern part of Slexico, and then quar- 
rel about it — to bring it in, and then put upon it the saving grace of the Wilmot provi- 
so ! [Laughter.] Why, sir, there were two very eminent and highly respectable per- 
sons from the North and East, then holding a high position in this Senate — I refer (and 
I do so with entire respect, for I entertain a high regard for both of them) to Mr. Dix, 
of New York, and Mr. Niles, of Connecticut — who voted for the admission of Texas. 
They would not have it otherwise than it stood, and would have it as it did stand. 
Those two gentlemen would have the resolutions of annexation just as they are, Avith 
their eyes open to them. Why, sir, my honorable friend from South C.iiolina [Mr. 
Calhoun], who addressed us the other day, was then Secretary of State. His corres- 
pondence had been published. His correspondence with Mr. Murphy, the charge d'af- 
faires of the United States to Texas, was all before those gentlemen ; and he had the 
boldness and candor to avow in that correspondence, and then to publish that corres- 
pondence, that the great object sought by the annexation of Texas was to strengthen 
the slave interests of this country. 

Mr. Calhoun, (interposing). In this matter which I consider of so much importance, 
I deem it my duty to set the honorable Senator from Massachusetts right. I did not 
put it on the ground assumed by the Senator. I put it on^this ground; that Great 
Britain had announced to this government, in so many words, that her object wns to 
abolish slavery in Texas, and through Texas in the United States. And the ground I 
put it upon was this ; that if Great Britain succeeded in her object, it would be impos- 
sible for our frontier to be secure against the operations of abolitionists, and th£it 
this government was bound to protect us, under the guarantees of the constitution, in 
such a state of things. 

Mr. Webster.— I suppose it amounts to exactly the same thing. It was. that Texas 
must be obtained for the security of the South ; and that was the object set forth in the 
correspondence. I have occasion to know that there repose in the State Department 
strong letters from the very worthy gentleman who preceded the honorable Senator 
from South Carolina in that office, to the United States minister in England, and I sup- 
pose letters from the honorable senator himself to England, asserting to this extent the 
sentiments of this government ; that Great Britain was not expected to interferetto 
take Texas out of the hands of the then existing government and make it a free country. 
But my conclusion is this : that those gentlemen who compose the Northern Democra- 
cy, when Texas was brought into the Union, saw it brought in, with all their eyes 
open, as a slave territory, and for the purpose of being maintained as a slave territory 
to the Greek kalends. That they saw ; that they could not but see. I further tliink 
that the honorable Senator, who was then Secretary of State, might have, in some of 
the correspondence, suggested to Mr. Murphy that it was not expedient to say too much 
about this subject, as it would create some alarm. But he avowed it openly and man- 
fully — for what he means he is very ready to say. 

Mr. Calhoun, (interposing). Always ; always. 

Mr V/' -TER.— This was in 1845 Then, in 184:7 , flagrante ie//o between the United 
States and Mexico, this proposition was brought forward by my friend from Georgia. 
The northern democracy voted against it. Their remedy was to apply to this conquest, 
after it should come in, the Wilmot Proviso ! Well, what followed : Wliy, those two 
gentleman, worthy, honorable, and influential men, brought in Texas by their votes. 
They prevented the passage of the resolution of the honorable Senator from Georgia, 
and then they went home and took the lead in the free-soil party ; and there they 
stand. They leave us here bound in honor and conscience by the resolutions of annexa- 
tion ; they leave us here to take the odium of fulfilling the obligations iu favor of _ sla- 
very, which they voted us into, or else the greater odium of violating these obligations, 
while they are at home making rousing and capital speeches for free mil and no slavery. 
—[Laughter.] Therefore, I say, Mr. President, that there is no chapter in our history, 
respecting public measures and public men, more full of what should create surprise, 
and more full of what does create, in my mind, extreme mortification, than the conduct 
of this northern democracy. 

Sometimes, when a man is found in a new relation to things around him and to other 
men, he says the world has changed, and that he has not changed. I believe, sir, that 
our self-respect leads us often to make that declaration, in regard to ourselves, when it 
is not exactly true. An individual is more apt to change, perhaps, than all the world 
around him is to change ; and under present circumstances, and under the responsi- 
bility which I know I incur by what I am now stating here, I feel at liberty to recur 
to the various expressions and statements at various times of my own opiuions, and 



22 

resolutions respecting the admission of Texas, and all that has followed. As early as 
1836, or the early part of 1837, it was a matter of conversation and correspondence be- 
tween myself and some private friends. An honorable gentleman, long an acquaint- 
ance and friend of mine, now perhaps in this chamber — General Hamilton, of South 
Carolina — was knowing to tbnt correspondence. I voted for the recognition of Texan 
independence becau.?e I believe'l it was an existing fact, surprising and astonishing as 
it was, and I wished well to the new republic. But I professed from the first an utter 
opposition to bring her with her territory into the United States; and having occa- 
sion, in 1837, to meet some friends in New York, on some political occasion, I stated 
my sentiments on that subject. It was the first time I had occasion to advert to it; 
and if I might ask a friend near me to read an extract from that speech, I think it would 
be proper to present it to tlie Senate, though it may be rather tedious. It was de- 
livered at Niblo's Garden in r''37. 

Mr. Greene read as follows : 

"Gentlemen, we all see that, hy whomsoever possessed. Texas is lilvely to be a slaveholding coun- 
try ; and I frankly avow my et.cue unwillingness to do anything which shall extend the slavery of 
the African race on this continent, or add otlier slaveholding'States to the Union. 

" When I say that I regar -lavery in itself as a great moral, social, and political evil, I only use lan- 
guage which has been aiicjpied by distinguislied men. themselves citizens of slaveholding States. 

" 1 shall do nothin' ^ cfore. to favor orencourage its further extension. ''.Ve have slavery already 

among us. — The c<v , .lion found it among us, it recognized it-, and gave it .solemn guaranties. 

'' To the full extcui of these guaranties, we are all bound in honor, in justice, and by the constitution. 
All the stipulations contained in the constitution in favor of the slaveholding States which are already 
in the Union ought to be fulfilled, and. so far as depends on me. shall be fulfilled in the fullness of their 
spirit and to the exactness of tlieir letter. Slavery as it exists in tlie States is beyond the reach of 
Congress. 

•■ It is a concern of the States themselves. They h^ve never submitted it to Congress, and Congress 
has no rightful power over it. 

" I shall concur, therefore, in no act, uo measure, no menace, no indication of purpose, which shall 
interfeie or thieaten to interfere witli the exclusive authority of the several States over the subject of 
slavery, as it exists within their respective limits. All this appears to me to be matter of plain and im- 
perative duty. 

•'But when we come to speak of admittins new States, the subject assumes an entirely different as- 
pect. Our riglits and our duties aie then both different. 

■• I ste, therefore, no political necessity for the annexation of Texas to the Union — no advantages to 
be derived from it, and objections to it of a strong and. in my judgment, of a decisive character."' 

Mr. Webster. I have nothing, sir, to add nor to take back from these sentiments. 
That, sir, you will perceive, and the Senate will perceive, was in 1837. The purpose 
of immediately annexing Texas at that time was abandoned or postponed. It was not 
revived with any vigor lor some years. In the mean time, it so happened that I had be- 
come a member of the executive administration, and was there for a short period, in the 
Department of State. The annexation of Texas was a common subject of conversation. 
— not confidential — with the President and heads of departments, as it was with other 
public men. But no serious attempt was made to bring it about. 

I left (he Department of State in May, 1843, andshortly after I learned from a source 
in no v-"y connected with ofBcial information, that a design had been taken up to bring 
Texas ^vith her slave territory and population into the United States. 

I was herein Washington; and persons arc now here who well remember that we 
had an iirranged meeting for conversation upon it. I went home to Massachusetts, 
and proclaimed the existence of that purpose ; but I could get very little attention. 
Some vould nut believe it, and some were engaged in their own pursuits. They had 
gone to their farms or their merchandise. It was impossible to raise any sentiment iu 
New England or even Massachusetts, that should combine the two parties against an- 
nexatioa ; and, indeed, there was no hope, from the first, of bringing the northern 
democracy into it. Even with the Whigs, and leading Whigs I am ashamed to .say, 
there was a great indifference concerning the tinnexation of Texas with her slave terri- 
tory into this Union. At that time I was out of Congress. The annexation resolutions 
passed the 1st of March, 1845. The Legislature of Texas complied with the conditions 
and accepted the guaranties; fur the phraseology ot the annexation resolutions is, that 
Texas is to come in " on the conditions and under the guaranties herein prescribed." 

I happened to be returned to the Senate in March, 1845, and was here in December, 
1845, when the acceptance by Texas of the conditions proposed by Congress was laid 
before us by the President, and an act for the consummation of the connexion was be- 
fore the two houses. The c(mncxion was completed. A final law, doing the deed of 
annexation, w;i.s ultirnalelj' adojitod. When it was on its passage jiere, I expressed my 
opposition, and recorded my vote ; and there the vote sttinds, with the observations I 
made upon tiiat occasion. It happened, between 1837 and this time, that, on various 
occasions .md opportunities, I have expressed my entire opposition to the admission of 
slave stales, or the acfjuisition of new slave territory to be ailded to the United States. 
I know no cliange in my own sentiments or in my own purposes in that respect. 1 will 
only now, sir, read very briefly one otlier extract from a speech of mine, made at a con- 
vention held in Springfield, Massachusetts, September 27, 1847 : 



23 



'■ We hear much ju^t now of a panacea for the dar.gers and evils of slavery and slave anneMtion^ 
whi"h thej ca^l the'- mimot Proriso.- That certainly is a just sentiment, but U ,s not a senfment to 
found any new party upon. It is not a sentiment on which Massachusetts W higs differ. Theie u not 
a man in^th" ha'^^rw^ho Lids to.it more firmly than 1 do. nor one who adheres to it more than ano her^ 

■■ 1 feel some little interest in this matter, sir. Did not I commit myself in 18.38 to the whole doctrine 
fully entirely ? .\nd 1 must be permitted to say that I cannot quite consent that more recent discover- 
ers should claim the merit and take out a patent. .i,„„i„,. 

•• i deny the priority of the invention. Allow me to say, sir, it is not their thunder. f ,,„- 

- We are to use the first and last and every occasion wi:ich offers to oppose the extension of slave 

^°Tut I speak of it here, as in Congress, as a political question-a question for statesmen to act upon. 
We must so regard it. 1 certainly do not mean to say that it is less important in a moral pomtu view, 
tiiatTt is not mSrelmportant in mlny other points of view ; but. as a legislator, or m any olhcial capa- 
city. 1 must look at it, consider it. and decide it. as a matter of political action. , 

On other occasions, sir, and in debates here, I have expressed rcy determination to 
vote for no acquisitions or annexations. North, South, East or West. My opinion has 
been that we have territory enough, and that we should use the Spartan maxim : • Im- 
prove, adorn what you have; seek no further." ,, ^, -ir..^ i^oT, 
I think sir, that it was on some observations I made here on the three million loan 
bill, that I avowed that sentiment. It is short; and the sentiment has been avowed 
quite as often, in as many places, and before as many of the people of the United btates, 
as anv humble sentiment of mine has been avowed. _ , 

But now, sir, what is our condition .' Texas is in with all her territories, as a slave 
State, with solemn pledges that if she is divided into many Staters, t^^ose btaxes may 
come in as slave States south of 36 deg. 30 min. How are we to deal with them i 
know of no wav of honorable legislation, but, when the time comes for enactment, to 
carry into effect all that we have stipulated. I do not agree with my honorable .riend 
from Tennessee, that as soon as there is room for another ^eP^-^^ff Native, according to 
numbers, we should create a new State. The truth, with regard to that, I think to be 
this : When we have created new States out of Territories, we have generally gone 
upon the idea that when there wa» population enough to entitle them to a meniber-bO UUU, 
or some such number-we should create a State. It may be thought a difterent thing, 
where a State is divided, and two or three are made out of one. It does not foU^^^^^f 
the same rule of apportionment must prevail. But that, sir, is a matter for the consi- 
deration of Congress. When the proper time arrives I may not be here I may have 
no vote to give on the occasion; but I wish to be distinctly understood tb^ day, that 
according ?o my view of the matter, this government is solemnly Pledged by aw to 
create new States out of Texas, with her consent, when her popuhition Ja 1 ustify 
such a proceeding, and so far as those new States are formed out ot ,Jf^;^^^\^"^^°7^(y 
ing south of 30 d°egrees 30 minutes, to let them in as slave Sta es. /J^* f ^j .^^'^^^^^S 
of the resolution which our friends, the northern democracy, have left us heie to tuitil 
it, because I will not violate the faith of the government. „^m,„1pH from those 

Now, sir, as to California and New Mexico : I hold slavery to be excluded fiom those 
Territories by a law even superior to that which admits and S;^°«f °°%^ ^^^/y^^^.f^^.^^f 
-I mean the law of nature-the law of physical geography-the l^^i! ITntnient 

the earth. That law settles forever, with a strengthbeyond all terms of human enactment, 
that slavery cannot exist in California or New Mexico. Understand me, sir ; I mean s^a- 
verv as we reeard it— slaves in gross, of the colored race, transferable by sale and ae- 
hvery as otheSropert V. I shall not contest the point. I leave that to the learned gentle- 
men ^hrunder^akrto discuss it; but I Buppose^herearenoslavesof thatdescrjt^^^^^ 
Mexico now, and suppose there never will be. I understand V^^* tl^^^P«°^^g«' *5^!,^°r* ^^ 
feudal servitude i/ which men are sold for debt, exists m California and some parts of 
Mexico. But what I mean to say is, that the existence of African slavery , as we see it here 
among ns, is as utterly impossible to find itself or to be found in Mex>^°' ^^,^"7 ^*^^^ 
natu/al impossibility npon anything else. Why sir, California ^"'i Jew Mexico are 
Asiatic in their formation and their scenery. They are composed of ^^st ndges of 
mountains, of an enormous height, sometimes broken by deep valleys. Jhe sides ot 
tTese mountains are barren-entirely barren. Their tops -';.«,,f.^Pf -^^^J PT/^JJ'e 
qnows There may be in California, now made free by her constitution— and there are, 
noTubt-some trLts of valuable L;nd ; but it is --h less valuable when you get into 
New Mexico Pray what is the evidence upon this subject, which any gentleman has 
Scted'by information sought by himself,'or stated by others ? I l^-^f^^Jj^^.I^^ 
read, and learned all I could learn on the subject.^ What is here '^^^^^ ^^'^''^J^^^ 
could by possibility induce anybody to go there with a slave .' There are some narrow 
slTps of'^ti^lable land upon the'borders of the rivers ; but the ^.^^^ themselves ^ry up 
before midsummer. All that the native people can do is *« 7;f^/°™%^i i^'.iJ^^^'^^Viio 
some little wheat and other grain for their own use, and all t^^* ^> l^'S^'/^.^^^ J^ 
expects to see a hundred black men cultivating tobacco, corn cotton, f^'-'^'^J}^'""?^^^^ 
lands in New Mexico, made fertile only by irrigation .= I ^^^^ "f ° ; *J;7^'^^;5' ^ew 
' fixed fact "-to use a current expression of the day-that both C^ilifornia and INew 



24 

Mexieo are destined to be free, so far as they are settled at ail — which I believe, espe- 
cially with regard to New Mexico, will be very little, for a great length of time — free 
by the arrangement of things by the powers above us. 

And I have therefore, sir, to say on this respect also, that this country, is fixed for 
freedom to as many persons as shall ever live there by an irrepealable law — a more 
irrepealable law than tlie law which appeals to the right of holding slaves under legal 
enactments. And 1 will say furtlier, sir, that if a resolution or a law were now before 
us to provide a territorial government for New Mexico, I would vote to put into it no pro- 
hibition whatever. The use of such a prohibition would be idle as it respects any effect 
upon the Territory. I would not take pains to re-affirai an ordinance of nature, nor to 
re-enact the will of God. I would put in no Wilmot Proviso for the purpose of a taunt 
and reproach — an evidence of superior votes or superior power — to wound the pride, 
even — whether a just and rational pride, or an irrational pride — to wound the pride 
even — wliether a just or rational pride — to wound the pride of the gentleman and peo- 
ple of the Southern States. I have no such object and no such purpose. They would 
think it a taunt and an indignity. They would think it to be an act taking away from 
them what they regard as a proper equality or privilege. Whether they are expected 
to realize any benefit from it or not, they would feel thac at least a theoretic wrong — 
something derogatory, in some degree, more or less, to their character — had taken 
place. I need not inflict any such wound upon the feelings of anybody, unless in a case 
where something essentially important to the country and efficient to the preservation 
of liberty and freedom is to be effected. Therefore I repeat, sir — and I repeat it be- 
cause I wish to be understood about it — I do not propose to address the Senate oftea 
upon this subject. I desire to pour out all my heart as plainly as possible. I say, there- 
fore, sir, that if the proposition were now here for a government for New Mexico, and 
it was moved to insert a provision for the prohibition of slavery, I would not vote for it. 

Now, Mr. President, I have established, so far as I pvopose to go into any observations 
to establish, the proposition with Avhich I i?et out — upon which I mean to stand or to fall ; 
that is, that the whole territory in the States of the United States, or in newly acquired 
territories of the United States, has a fixed and settled character now — fixed and settled 
ley law, whicli cannot be repealed, in the case of Texas, without violation of public 
faith, and which cannot be repealed by any human power in regard to California and 
New Mexico. Under one or the other of these laws, every foot of territorj'in the States 
or in the Territories has now received a fixed and decided character. Sir, if we were 
now making a government for New Mexico, and anybody should propose the Wilmot 
Proviso. I should treat it exactly as Mr. Polk treated that proposition for excluding 
slavery from Oregon. Mr. Polk was kuov.m to be in opinion decided-ly adverse to the 
Wilmot Proviso, but he felt the necessity of a law for the government of the territory of 
Oregon. And though the Wilmot Proviso was thei e, he knew that it wculd be a jierfcctly 
nugatory Proviso ; and since it must be entirely nugatory, since it took away no de- 
scribable, estimable, weighable, or tangible riglit of the South, he said he would siga 
the bill fur the sake of enacting a law for the goveriunent of tlie Territory, and let that 
entirely useless — and in that connexion entirely senseless — Proviso remain. For my- 
self, I will say — we hear of the annexation of Canada — if there be any man. any of the 
northern democracy, or any of the free soil party, who suppose it necessary to insert a 
Wilmot I'roviso in the territoral government of New Mexico, that man will of course 
be of opinion that it is necessary to protect the everlasting snows of Canada from the 
vote of slavery, by the same overpowering wing of an act of Congress. Now, sir, 
wherever there is a practical good to he done, wherever there is an inch of bind to be 
stayed back from becoming a slave territory, I am ready to insert the principle of the 
exclusion of slavery. I am pledged to that from 1837 — pledged to it again and again — 
and I will perform those pledges. But I will not do a thing unnecessarily that wounds 
the feelings of others, or that does disgrace to my own understanding. 

Mr. President, in the excited times in which we live, there is a state found to exist 
of mutual recrimination and recrimination between the South and the North. There 
are lists of grievances produced by each; and these grievances, really I suppose, alienate 
the minds of one portion of the country from the other, exasperate the feelings, subdue 
the sense of fraternal connexion, of patriotic love, and mutual regard. 1 shall bestow 
a little attention upon these various grievances, produced by tiie one side and the other. 
1 begin with the complaints of the South. 1 will not answer further than 1 have the 
general statement of the honorable member from South Carolina [Mr. ('alhoun], that 
the Nortli has grown upon tiie South, in constHiuencc of the manner of administering 
this government, collecting its revenues, tVc. They are disputed topics wbicli 1 have 
no inclin;ition to enter into; but I will state these complaints, and especially one com- 
plaint of the Soutii, wliich has, in my opinion, just foundation; which is, that tlierc ha,s 
been found :;t tlie North, among individuals, and among the legislatures of the North, a 
disincliniition to perfoim fully their constitutional duties in regard to the return of 



25 

persons bound to service who have escaped into tliose States. In that respect, it is my 
judgment that the South is right and the North is wrong. Every member of every 
northern legislature is bound by oath to support the constitution of the United States ; 
and this article of the constitution which says to these States that they shall deliver 
up fugitive slaves, is as binding in honor and in conscience as any other article ; and no 
man fulfils his duty, under his oath, in any State legislature, who sets himself to work 
to find excuses, evasions, escapes from his constitutional duty. I have always thought 
that the constitution addressed itself to the legislatures of the States themselves, or to 
the States themselves. It says that those persons escaping into other States shall be 
delivered up; and I confess I have always been of opinion that that was an injunction 
upon the States themselves. It is said that a person escaping into another State, and 
becoming therefore within the jurisdiction of that State, shall be delivered up. It seems 
to me that the plain import of the passage is, that the State itself, in obedience to the 
injunction of the constitution, shall cause him to be delivered up. This is my judg- 
ment; I have always entertained it, and I entertain it now. But when the subject 
came, some years before, under the consideration of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, the majority of the judges held that the power to cause the fugitive from ser- 
vice to be delivered up was a power to be exercised under the authority of this govern- 
ment. I do not know upon the whole, that that may not have been a fortunate decision. 
I do not say that it is not a legal decision. My habit is, to receive the results of judi- 
cial deliberations and the solemnity of judicial decisions; but, as it now stands, the 
business of seeing that these fugitives are delivered up resides in the power of Con- 
gress and the national judicature. My friend at the head of the Judiciary Committee 
has a bill upon that subject now before the Senate, with some amendments to it which 
have been offered. 

I propose to support that bill, with all proper authority and provisions in it, to the 
fullest extent— to the fullest extent. I desire to call the attention of all sober men, in 
the North— men carried away by no fanatical ideas— to their constitutional obligations 
upon this question and in this respect. I put it to all sober and sound rreTiinthe 
North, as a question of morals — a question of conscience — what right they h:^ve. in their 
legislative capacities, any of them, to endeavor to get around this constitution, and 
embarrass the free exercise of the rights secured by the constitution to ail persons 
whose slaves escape from them .' None at all — none at all. Neither in the forum of 
conscience, nor before the face of the constitution can they justify that, in my opinion. 
Of course it is a matter for their own considerations. They, probably, in the turmoil 
of thought, without having stopped to consider of it, fell, as it seems to nie, into a cur- 
rent of thought in which they imagined they found motive for their action; and they 
neglected to investigate fully the real question of the case — to consider their constitu- 
tional obligation, which, I am sure if they did consider, they would fulfil Avith alacrity. 
I therefore repeat, here is aground of complaint against the North, well-founded, which 
ought to be remedied — which it is now in the power of the dilferent departments of this 
government to remove — which calls for the enactment of a proper law, authorizing the 
judicatures of the several States of this government to do all that is necessary for the 
recapture of fugitive slaves, and the restoration of them to those who claim them. 
"Wherever I go, and wherever I speak upon this subject — I speak here, and desire to 
speak to the people of the whole North— I say that the South has been injured in this 
respect. It has a right to complain. The North has been too careless upon what I 
think the constitution peremptorily and emphatically enjoins upon it as a duty. 

Complaint is made again, sir, of the resolutions that emanate from the several State 
legislatures and are sent here to us, not only upon the subject of slavery in this Dis- 
trict, but sometimes recommending Congress to consider the means of abolishing slavery 
in the States. I should be very sorry to be called upon to present any resolution not 
referable to any acknowledged power in Congress, and therefore should be very unwil- 
ling to receive from Massachusetts instructions to present resolutions expressing any 
opinion whatever upon slavery as it exists at the present moment in the States, for two 
reasons. In the first place, I do not consider that the legislature of Massachusetts has 
anything to do with it; and, in the next place, I do not consider that I, here, as her 
representative, have anything to do with it. And if the legislatures of the States do 
not like it, they have a great deal more power to put it down than I have to uphold it. 
It has become, in my opinion, quite too common a practice for State legislatures to pre- 
sent resolutions upon all subjects, and instructing us here upon all subjects. There is 
no public man that needs instruction more than I do, or needs information more than I 
do, or desires it more than I do ; but I do not like to have it come in too imperative 
a shape. I noticed with pleasure some remarks made the other day, in the senate of 
Massachusetts, by a young man of talent, standing, and character, fur whom the best 
hopes are entertained, upon this subject — I mean Mr. Hilliard. He told the senate of 
Massachusetts that he would vote for no instructions whatever to be forwarded to 



26 

members of Congress, nor for any resolutions whatever expressive of the sense of Mas- 
sachusetts as to what her members of Congress ought to do. He said he saw no pro- 
priety in one set of public servants giving instruction and reading a lecture to another 
8et of public servants — that to their own master all of them must stand or fall, and 
that master is their constituents. I wish these sentiments could become more common 
— ^greatly more common. 

I have never entered into the question, and never shall, about the binding force of 
instructions. I will say simply this : that if there be any interest pending in either of 
these bodies, where I am a member, and Massachusetts has in that question any par- 
ticular interest of her own, not adverse to the general interest of the country, I shall 
pursue her instructions with gladness of heart, and with all the efficiency that I can 
bring to it. But if the question be one that aifects her interests, and at the .same time 
affects the interests of the people of all the otlier states, I should feel myself no more 
bound to regard her particular wishes and instructions than if I were chosen a referee 
or an irbitrator, to decide upon a question of important private rights, I should feel 
myself bound to regard the instructions of the man that appointed me. If there ever 
yas a government on earth, it is this government — if there ever was a body upon earth, 
it is tl\i3 body, which should consider itself as composed by an agreement of all ; ap- 
pointed by some, but organized by general consent of all : silting here under obligation 
of oath and conscience to do that which they consider as best for the good of the whole. 

Then, sir, there are those abolition societies, of which I am very unwilling to speak, 
but in regard to which I have very fixed notions and opinions. 1 do not think them 
nseful. I think their operations for the last twenty years have produced nothing that 
i^ good or valuable. At the same time I know that thousands of them are very honest 
and good men, perfectly well-meaning. They have excited feelings. They think they 
must do something for the cause of liberty, and in their sphere of action they do not 
see what else they can do, but to contribute to an abolition press or an abolition soci- 
ety, or to pay an abolition lecturer. I do not mean to impute gross motives even to the 
leaders of those societies ; but I am not blind to the consequences ; I cannot but see 
"what mischief their interference with the South has accomplished. Is it not plain to 
eyej-y man .■■ Let any gentleman who doubts all this recur to the debates in the Vir- 
ginia house of delegates in 1832. See with what freedom the proposition made by Mr. 
Randolph for the gradual abolition of slavery was discussed in that house of delegates. 
Everybody spoke of slavery as they thought; and very ignominious and disreputable 
names and epithets were applied to it freely. The debates of the house of delegates 
were all published. They were read by every colored man who coul I read ; and if 
there was not a colored man who could read, they Avere read by white men to colored 
men who could not read. At that time, Virginia was not unwilling or afraid to discuss 
this whole question, and to let that particular part of her population know as much of 
it as they could learn. That was in 1832. , 

_ As has been said by the honorable member from South Carolina, these abolition so- 
cieties commenced their course of action in 1835. It is said — with what truth 1 know 
not — that they sent incendiary publications into the slave states. At any event, they 
attempted to arouse, and did arouse a very strong feeling — in other words, created a 
great sensation in the North against slavery. What was the result .' The bands of 
slavery were bound tighter. The rivets were more strongly fastened. Public opinion 
in Virginia, just then opening to the free discussion of this question, drew back and 
shut itself up in it« castle. I wish to know now whether anybody in Virginia can talk 
as Mr. Randolph and Gov. McDowell talked in Virginia.' They talked openly, and 
sent their remarks to the press in 1832, we all know ; and we all know the cause. 
Everything that the agitating people have done has been not to enlarge, but to re- 
strain ; not to set free, but to bind faster the slave population of the South. That is mj 
judgment. 

As I have said, I know many of them in my own neighborhood are very honest and 
good people — misled, as I think, by a strange enthusiasm ; but wishing to do some- 
thing, they feel called upon to contribute, and they do contribute. It is my firm opin- 
ion this day, that within the last twenty years as much money has been collected and 
paid to abolition societies, abolition presses, and abolition lecturers, as would purchase 
the freedom of every slave — man, woman, and child — in the state of Maryland, and send 
them all to Liberia: I have no doubt of it. I have not learned that the benevolence of 
these abolition scjcieties has at any time taken that particular turn. 

Again, sir, the violence of tlie press is complained of. The press is violent every- 
where. There are outrages — reproaches in the North against the South, and reproaches 
in not much better tjiste in the South ag.iiiist the North. Tlie extremists of both par- 
ties of the country are violent They mistake loud and violent talk for eloquence and 
for reason. Tliey tliiuk he who talks loudest reasons the best. AVe must expect that 
where the press is free, as it is liere, and always will be — for, with all its licentious- 



27 

ness, and all its evils, an entire and absolute freedom of the press is essential for the 
preservation of the government on the basis of a free constitution — wherever that ex- 
ists there will be foolish paragraphs and violent paragraphs in the press, as there are, 
I am sorry to say, foolish speeches and violent speeches in the houses of Congress. In 
short, sir, I must say that, in my opinion, the vernacular tongue of the country has 
become greatly vitiated, depraved, and corrupted by the style of the Congress debates. 
[Laughter.] And if it were possible for our debates in Congress to vitiate the princi- 
ples of the people as mxich as they have depraved their tastes, I should cry out, God 
save the Republic ! Well, sir, in all this I see no solid grievance within the redress of 
government — produced by the South — but the single one to which I have referred — the 
want of a proper regard for the injunctions of the constitution about the restoration of 
fugitive slaves. 

Now, sir, there are complaints of the North against the South. I need not go over 
them particularly. The first and the gravest is — considering that the North entered 
into the constitution recognizing the existence of slavery in the states, and recognizing 
the right, to a certain extent, of the representation of slaves in Congress, under a state 
of sentiment and expectation which does not now exist — that the North, by events, by 
circumstances, by the eagerness of the South to acquire territory and to extend a slave 
population, finds itself, in regard to the respective influence of the South and North, of 
tlie free states and slave states, where it never did expect to find itself when they en- 
tered into the constitution. They complain, therefore, thyt instead of bsing regarded 
as an evil, as it was then — an evil which all hoped would go out gradually — it is now 
regarded by the South and cherished as an institution to be preserved and extended, 
and is an institution which the South has extended to the utmost of its power, by the 
acquisition of new territory. 

Then, sir, passing from that, everybody in the North reads — everbody reads what- 
soever the newspapers contain ; and the newspapers, some of them, and especially 
those presses to which I have alluded, are careful to spread among the people every 
reproachful sentiment uttered by any Southern man, high or low, against the North. 
Everything that is calculated to exasperate — everything that is calculated to alienate — 
and there are many such things, as everybody will admit, in the South, or some por- 
tions of it — is spread abroad among a reading people. And they do exasperate — they 
do alienate — they do produce a mischievous effect upon the public mind of the North. 
I would not notice things of this sort, appearing in obscure quarters ; but one thing 
has occurred in this debate which.struck me very forcibly. 

The honorable Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Down.s] addressed us here the other day 
upon this subject. I suppose there is not a more amiable or worthy gentleman in this 
chamber. I suppose there is not a gentleman more slow to give offence to anybody. 
He did not mean in his remarks to give offence to anybody. What did he say ? He 
undertook to run a contrast between the slaves of the South and the laboring people 
of the North, giving the preference in all points — in condition, comfort and happiness 
— to the slaves of the South. I repeat, sir, that he did not suppose he was giving any 
offence or doing any injustice. He was expressing his opinions. But does he know 
how a remark of that sort will be received by the laboring people of the North .' Who 
are the laboring people of the North ^ They are the North. They are the people who 
cultivate their farms with their own hand.s — freeholders — educated men — independent 
men ; and let me say, sir, that five-sixths of the whole property of the North is in the 
hands of the laborers of the North. They cultivate their farms ; they educate their 
children; they provide means of independence. If they are not freeholders, they 
earn wages. Wages accumulate, and are turned into capital. New freeholders and 
new small capitalists are created. That is the condition of things at the North. And 
what can these people think, when so respectable and worthy a gentleman as the mem- 
ber from Louisiana undertakes to prove that the absolute ignorance and abject slavery 
of the South are more in conformity with the high purposes of immortal, rational hu- 
man beings than the educated and independent condition of free laborers of the North ! 

Now, str, so far as any of these grievances have their foundation in matters of law, 
they can be redressed. So far as they have their foundation in matters of opinion, in 
sentiments, in mutual crimination and recrimination, all we can do is to endeavor to 
allay them— to endeavor to cultivate a better feeling and more fraternal sentiment be- 
tween the South and the North. 

Mr. President, I should much prefer to have heard from every member upon this 
floor declarations of opinion that this Union could never be dissolved, than the decla- 
ration of opinions that in any case, under the pressure of any circumstances, such a 
dissolution was possible. I hear with pain, and anguish, and distress, the word se- 
cession, when it falls from the lips of those who are eminent, patriotic, known to the 
country, and known all over the world, for their political services. Secession! 
Peaceable secession ! Sir, your eyes and mine are never destined to see that miracle. 



28 

The dismemberment of tliis vast country witliout convulsion ! The breaking up of the 
fountains of the great deep without ruffling the surface! Who is foolish enough — I beg 
everybody's p.ardon — who is foolish enough to expect to see any such thing ? Sir, he'who 
sees these States, iiow revolving in harmony firound one common centre, and expects 
to sec them quit their places, and fly off, without convulsions, may look out the next day 
to set :he heavenly bodies rush from their splieres, and jostle against each other in the 
realcis of space, without producing a crush of the universe. Such a thing as peacea- 
ble se -ession ! It is utterly impossible. Is tliis constitution under which we live here, 
covering this whole country, to be thawed and melted away by secession, as the snows 
on th;.- mountains are melted under the influence of a vernal sun, to disappear almost 
unobsi-rved, and to die ofi'! No, sir; no, sir. 

I will not state what might produce the disruption of these states. I see it as plainly 
as I see the sun in heaven; and should it happen, it must produce such a war as I will 
not describe, in its twofold character. Peaceable secession ! Peaceable secessioa ! A 
concurrent agreement of all the members of this great republic to separate! A volun- 
tary separation, witli alimony on the one side or the other ! —What would be the re- 
sult .' Where is the line to be drawn .' What states are to be associated .' What is to 
remain America.' What am I to be .' Where is the flag to remain.' Where is the ea- 
gle still to tower .' or is he to cower, and shrink, and fall to the ground .' Wh}' sir, our 
ancestors, our fathers and grandfatliers, those of them who still remain amongst us, by 
reason of nrolonged life, would rebuke us and reproach us, and our children and grand- 
children would cry out shame upon us, if we of this generation should bring dishonor 
upon iliose ensigns of the honor and power and harmony of the Union, which we see 
around us now, with so much joy and gratitude. What is to become of the army ? 
What is to become of the navy .' What is to become of the public lands .' How is each 
of the thirty states to defend itself .' Nay, although the idea has been suggested dis- 
tinctly, that there is to be a Southern confederacy — I do not mean when I allude to 
this, that any body contemplates it here or elsewhere; I only mean to say that I have 
heard it suggested — I am sure that the idea cannot be entertained, even iu the dream 
of tlie wildest imagination. But if any separation is looked to, it must be one including 
the slave states, on the one side, and the free states on the other. 

Sir, I may express myself too strongly ; but some things — some moral things — are 
almost as impossible as natural and physical tilings; and I hold the idea tha: a separa- 
tion of those states into those which are free to foru) one government, and those which 
are slaveholding to form another government, is a moral impossibility. We could not 
separate them by any such line if we were to try. We could not sit down here and 
draw a line of separation that would suit any five men in the country. There are nat- 
ural causes which bind together and keep us togetlier ; so that we could not break tliem 
if we would, and I hope that we would not break them if we could. 

Looking over the face of this country at the present moment, nobody can see wliere its 
population exists, where its population is most growing, without being compelled to 
admit that ere long America will be in the valley of the Mississippi. Now, I beg to 
know what tiie wildest enthusiast has to say upon the possibility of cutting ofl" half of 
that river, leaving the free states at its sources and amongst its branches, and slave 
states down near its mouth. Remember, sir, remember — let me say to the people of 
this country — that there, in the Northwest, is to be the storehouse of the population 
of America. There are already five millions of freemen in the free states north of the 
river (Ihio. Does any body suppose that this population can be severed by a line that 
divides them from a foreign and alien govcrnmeut, down somewhere — the Lord knows 
where — on the lower brances of the Mississippi .' What will become of the Missouri? 
Shall she join with the slave state urrondisstmtnt 1 Shall the man from the Yellow 
Stone be connected in the new Republic with the man who lives on the southern ex- 
tremity of Florida .' I am ashamed to pursue this line of remark. I dislike it. I 
have an utter disgust for it. 1 had rather hear of natural blasts and mildews, of war, 
pestilence and famine, than to hear gentlemen talk of secession, of breaking up this 
great government, of dismembering tliis great country. It would be to astonish Europe 
with an act of folly such as Europe for two centuries has never beheld in any country. 
No, sir; gentlemen are not serious when they talk of secession and dissolution. 

I hear tliat there is to be a Convention at Nashville. 1 am one who believes that 
if those worthy g(?ntlemen meet at all at Nashville in Convention, their object will be 
to adopt counsels of moderation — to advise the South to forbearance and moderation, 
and to advise the North to principles of tbrbcarance and moderation, inculcating prin- 
ciples of brotherly love and afl'ection, and attachment in every part of our common 
country. 1 believe, if tliey meet at all, they will meet for such purposes; for, cer- 
tainly, sir, if tliey meet for any purposes hostile to this Union, they liave been singu- 
larly unfortunate and inappropriate in their selection of a place of meeting. I re- 
member that when the treaty was concluded between France and England, at the 



29 

peace of Amiens, a stern old Englishman, an orator who disapproved ot the terms of 
that peace, as dishonorable to England, said, in the House of Commons, that if King 
William could know the terms of that treaty, he would turn in his coffin. Let 
me commend that saying in all its emphasis, and all its force, if anyV^ody should think 
of meeting at Nashville, for the purpose of concerting measures for the overthrow of 
the Union of these States ver the bones of Andrew Jackson! 

Sir, 1 wish to make two remarks, and hasten to a conclusion. I wish to say, in re- 
gard to Texas, that, if it should be hereafter, at any time, the pleasure of the gov- 
ernment of Texas to cede to the United States a portion, larger or smaller, which lies 
adjoining to New Mexico, and north of the 34th degree of nortli latitude, for a fair 
equivalent in money, for the payment of her debts, 1 think it an object well worthy 
the consideration of this body. I concur in it myself; and if I should be in the public 
counsels of the nation at that time, it would give me great pleasure to aid in the con- 
summation of such an arrangement. 

I have one other remark to make. In my observations upon slavery, as it has existed 
in the country, or as it now exists, 1 have expressed no opinion of the mode of its 
extinction or amelioration. I will say, however, — though I have nothing to propose on 
that subject, because I do not feel myself so competent as gentlemen who are them- 
selves more intimately connected with slavery — tliat if any gentleman from the South 
shall propose a scheme of colonization, to be carried on by this government upon a large 
scale, for the transportation of the free colored people to any colony, or to any place in 
the world, I should be quite disposed to incur almost any degree of expense to accom- 
plisli that object. Nay, sir, following an example set here more than twenty years ago 
by a great man, a Senator from New York, I would propose to return to Virginia, and 
to the South through her, all the moneys received from the sale of the territory ceded 
by her to this government, for any such purpose — to deal beneficially in any way with 
the free colored people of the Southern States. There have been received into the 
treasury of the United States, eighty millions of dollars, the proceeds of the public 
lands ceded by Virginia, which have been already sold ; and if the residue shall be sold 
at the same rate, the whole will amount to more than two hundred millions of dollars. 
Now, if Virginia and the South see fit to make any proposition to relieve themselves 
from the burden of their free colored population, they have my free consent that this 
government should pay them, out of these proceeds, any sum of money adequate to 
that end. 

Now, Mr. President, I draw these observations to a close. I have spoken freely; I 
meant to do so. I have not sought to make any display — to enliven the occasion by 
any animated discussion. I have sought only to speak my sentiments freely and at 
large — being desirous, once and for all, to let the Senate know, to let the country know, 
the opinions and sentiments which I entertain upon these subjects. These opinions are 
not likely to be suddenly changed. 

If there be any future services which I can render to the country, consistentlj' with 
these opinions and sentiments, I shall cheerfully render them. If there be none, T 
shall still be glad to have had the opportunity to disburden my conscience, and from 
the bottom of my heart to make known every political sentiment upon this subject 

And now, Mr. President, instead of speaking of the possibility or utility of seces- 
sion — instead of dwelling in these caverns of darkness — instead of groping with 
these ideas, so full of all that is horrid and horrible — let us come out into the 
light of day, and cherish those hopes that belong to us ; let us devote ourselves 
to those great objects that are fit for our consideration and our acti on — let us 
raise our conceptions to the magnitude and the importance of the duties that are de- 
Tolved upon us ; let our comprehensiou be as broad as the country for which we act, 
and our aspirations as high as its certain destiny. Never did there devolve on any 
generation of men higher trusts than are now devolved on us for the preservation of 
this constitution, and the harnionj'^ and happiness of all that live under it. It is a 
great, popular, constitutional government, guarded by legislation, law, and judicature, 
defended by tlie holy aifections of the people. No monarchical throne presses tlicse 
States together ; no iron chain of despotic power encircles them ; they live and stand 
upon a g(jverument, popular in its form, representative in its character, founded on 
principles of equality, calculated to last, we hope, forever. In all its history it has 
been beneficent. It has trodden down no man's liberty; it has crushed no State; it 
has been in all its influences benevolent and beneficent — promotive of the general pros- 
perity, the general glory, and the general renown. And at last it has received a vast 
addition of territory. It was large before; it was now become vastly larger. This re- 
public now stands with a vast breadth across the whole continent. The two great seas 
of the world wasli the one and the other shore. Wc may realise the description of the 
ornamental edging on the buckler of Achilles : — 



30 

■• Xow the broad shield complete, the artist crown'd 
With his last hand, and pour"d the ocean round ; 
in living silver seem'd the waves to roll. 
And beat the buckler verge, and bound the whole." 

Mr. O.VLHOUN — Mr. President, I rise to correct what I conceive to be the error of the 
distinguished Senator from Massachusetts, as to the motives which induced the admis- 
sion o; Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. I have hoard with regret the statement that it 
was til,- desire of the Southern people to get an extension of territory, with the view of 
cultiT..!;ing cotton with more success than they would in a crowded settlement. Now 
I thin.c the history of this acquisition will not sustain such a view. It is well known 
that tlie acquisitiiiu of Florida was the result of an Indian war. The Seminole Indians 
crossed over land and took one of our fortresses. The troops were ordered out, but 
were driven back. Then, under the command of General Jackson, Pen.«acola was 
taken. It was these acts, and not the desire for more territory, that caused the acqui- 
sition of Florida. I admit, however, that it had been for along time the desire on the 
part of the South, and of the administration, I believe, to acquire Florida ; but it was 
very different from the reason assigned by the Senator. There were collected together 
in that territory four tribes of Indians — the Creek, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, and 
the Cherokee— about thirty thousand warriors, who held connection, almost the whole 
of theai, with the Spanish authorities in Florida and had their trade princiijally with 
them. It is well known that a most pernicious influence was at work there ; and it was 
in the desire of preventing any conflict between these Indians and ourselves and Spain, 
that may be found the motive which induced the desire to acquire Florida. 

I come now to Louisiana. You well know that the immediate cause of that acquisi- 
tion was the suspension of our right of deposit at New Orleans. LTnder the treaty with 
Spain, we had the right of navigation of the river as far as New Orleans, and to make 
deposits there. The Spanish authorities interrupted that right. This brought on 
great agitation in the West, and I maintain, throughout the whole of the United States. 
Some gentlemen then, in opposition to a highly respectable party, if I mistake not, 
took the lead in the desire of resorting to arms to acquire that territory. Mr. Jef- 
FERsox, more prudent, desired it should come in by purchase. Thepurchase was 
made to remove that difficulty, and to give to the West an outlet to the ocean. That was 
the immediate cause of the admisssion of Louisiana. 

Now, sir, I come to Texas. Perhaps no gentleman had more to do with the acquisi- 
tion of Texas than myself; and I aver that I would have been among the very last ii- 
dividuals in the United States to have made any movement, at that time, towards the 
acquisition of Texas ; and I go further and say, if I know myself, I was incapable of 
acquiring any territory simply on the ground that it was to be slave territorj'. No, 
sir ; a very different motive actuated me. I knew at a very early period that the 
British government had given encouragement to the abolitionist.- who were represented 
in the World's Convention. The question of abolition was agitated in that Convention ; 
and one gentleman stated that Mr. Adams informed him that, if the British Govern- 
ment chose to abolish slavery in the United States, they must commence at Texas. A 
committee from the World's Convention was sent to the Secretary of State. It so hap- 
pene J, that this very gentleman was present when the intercourse took place between 
Lord Aberdeen and that committee, and he gave him a full account of it shortly after 
that occurrence, stating that Lord Aberdeen fell into the project to give encouragement 
to the abolitionists It is well known that Lord Aberdeen was a pretty correct, and, 
in ray opinion, a very honest man. Mr. Pakenham was sent here to negotiate rela- 
tive \o Oregon— and incidentally about Texas. He was ordered to read his declaration 
to this government, stating that the British Government was negotiating relative to 
putting an end to slavery all over the world, and in Texas especially. It was well 
known, further, that at the very time France and England had negotiated with Ameri- 
ca to effect that purpose, and our government was thrown out by a— [The remainder of 
the sentence was inaudible to the reporter.] The object of that was to induce Mexico 
to recognize tlie independence of Texas upon the ground that she had abolished slave- 
ry. Now, all these are matters of fact. 

Well, sir, where is the man so blind as not to see that if the project of Great Britain 
had been successful, the whole State of Louisiana, Arkansas, and the adjacent States, 
would have been open to the inroads of the British emissaries. 

Sir, as far as I was concerned I never did, and never would run into the folly of re- 
annexation, which I always held to be unconstitutional and absurd ; nor would I put it 
upon what I might have put it— upon commercial and manufacturing considerations, 
because these were not my motives principally. And I choose to say what was my mo- 
tive. So far as commerce and manufactures were concerned, I would not have moved at 
that time. 

Now, the senator objects to many Northern men throwing the weight of their influ- 



31 



ence to support the measure of annexation. Well, it was perfectly right that they 
should be desirous of fulfilling the obligations the constitution imposes. What man, at 
that time, doubted but that the compromise of 36 degrees 30 minutes was constitutional? 
That territory would have fallen, any how, to the south. All the reasonable men at 
the North agreed to the extension of that line, so that part of Texas might fall within 
it. The course was, in my opinion, eminently right and patriotic. 

Now, Mr. President, having made these corrections, I must go back a little further, 
and make a statement which I think the honorable senator has left very defective, in 
reference to the ordinance of 1787. He stated very correctly that it commenced with 
the old confederation ; that it was afterwards confirmed by Congress ; that Congress was 
sitting in New York at the time, and while the convention was sitting in Philadelphia. 
Now, I have not looked at that ordinance very recently, but my memory will serve me 
thus far : .Jefferson introduced a proposition to exclude slavery in 1784. There was a 
vote upon it, and I think upon that vote every southern state voted for it. I am not 
certain upon this point: therefore, I will not venture mj- memory upon it. But one 
thing I will venture further; that it was three years before that ordinance was passed. 
It never passed until 1787 ; and it was then only passed, I have good reason to believe, 
on the principle of compromise, as the ordinance contained a provision similar to the 
one in the constitution about fugitive slaves, that it should be inserted in the constitu- 
tion ; and this was the compromise upon which that provision was made to commence in 
1787. We supposed that in that we had an indemnity. In that, too, we made a great 
mistake ; for v.hat possible advantag-o do we derive from this stipulation in the ordi- 
nance or in the constitution : Broken faith has deprived us of our due share in the 
Northwest Territory, by an entire exclusion of slavery. 

This was the leading question which destroyed the equilibrium. And then followed 
the Missouri compromise, which was carried mainly by Northern votes, although now 
disavowed and not respected by the North. That was the next step which caused the 
equilibrium to be broken and destroyed. 

Now, sir, having made these remarks, let me say that I took great pleasure in listen- 
ing to the honorable senator from JLissachusetts. He put himself upon the fulfilment 
of the contract in regard to the admission of these four states, stipulated for in the reso- 
lutioas of annexation. His position was manly and statesmanlike, and calculated to 
produce a better state of feeling between the different portions of the Union. He went 
further ; he has condemned — rightfully condemned, (and in that he has shown great 
firmness) — the course of the North relative to the stipulations in the constitution con- 
oerning fugitive slaves. But permit me to say — for 1 desire to be candid upon all sub- 
jects — that the senator, I think, as well as many of the friends on the other side, put 
confidence in a bill which has been reported, to extend the laws of Congress in relatioa 
to the recapture of slaves further, and to make them more penal. It will prove falla- 
oious. It is impossible to make any law of Congress on the su' ject operative, unless 
the people of the states shall feel themselves bound to cooperate. 

. I heard the gentleman also say he would not vote for the Wilmot Proviso — that he 
believed that nature had already excluded slavery from the new territories. Now, as 
far as new acquisition is concerned, I am disposed to leave the question to nature her- 
self. That is what I always insisted upon. Let that portion of our country which has 
more naturally a non-slaveholding population be occupied and governed by them, and 
the other portions by us, destroying the artificial line, although that is, perhaps, better 
than none. ^Ir. Jefferson spoke like a prophet upon the Missouri compromise. Indeed, 
I am willing to leave it to nature to settle and organize these territories. Organize 
them upon the principle of the gentleman, and give us free scope, and a sufficient time 
to get in — we ask nothing but that, and we never will ask it. When the gentleman says 
he is willing to leave it to nature, I understand that he is willing to remove all impedi- 
ments now put in our way, dete»ring our people from going there — I mean the cons«m- 
mate folly of citing the Mexican law prohibiting slavery in New Mexico and California. 

No man would feel more happy than myself to believe that our Union, founded by 
our ancestors, could live forever. Looking back, through the course of forty years I 
have spent here, I have the consolation to believe, that I have never done one act in 
"which I have not done full justice to all sections ; and if I am ever exposed to the im- 
putation of a contrary motive, it will be because I have been ready to defend my section 
against unconstitutional laws, 

But I cannot agree with the declaration of thesenator, that this Union cannot be dis- 
solved. Am I to understand that no degree of oppression, that no outrage, that no 
broken faith, can prevent the destruction of this Union.' Why, sir, if that becomes a 
fixed fact, it will be the great instrument of introducing oppression and broken faith. 
No, sir; the Union can be broken. Great moral causes will do it, if you go on; and it 
can only be preserved by justice, faith, and rigid adherence to the constitution. 
Mr. Webster — I have listened to the honorable member, but the crowded state of 



32 

the room has prevented me from hearing all his remarks. I have only one or two ob- 
servations to make ; and, to begin, I take notice of the honorable senator's last remark, 
and ask him if I held that this Union could not be broken? I wish to be distinctly 
understood on that subject. I hold that the breaking up of this Union by any such 
thing as voluntary secession of state is impossible. I know that the Union can be 
broken, as other governments have been ; and I admit that there may be such a degree 
of oppression by one part, being the majority, upon the minority, as will warrant re- 
sistance and forcible severance. That is revolution. On that ultimate right of revo- 
lution I have not been speaking. I know that law or necessity does exist. I forbear 
from going further, because I do not wish to run into discussion upon the nature of this 
government. The honorable member and myself have broken lances sufficiently often 
heretofore 

Mr. Calhoun (in his seat) — I do not desire it now. 

Mr. Webster — I presiime the honorable senator does not desire to do it now. I have 
quite ;is little desire as he. 

The honorable gentleman states the issues on which the old acquisitions of territory 
were made on the south side of the Union. Why, undoubtedly, wise, skilful public men, 
having an object to accomplish, took advantage of occasions. Indian wars were the oc- 
casion's. A fear of the occupation of Tex.as was an occasion. And when the occasion 
came under the pressure of which, or under justification of which, the thing could be 
done, iv was done — done skilfully. 

Let me say one thing further — and that is, if slavery were abolished, as it has been 
supposed to have been done throughout all Mexico, .before the revolution in Texas and 
the establishment of the Texan government, then, if it were desirable to take posses- 
sion of Texas by purchase, as a means of preventing its becoming a British possession, 
I suppose that object could have been secured by making it free, as well as by making 
it slave territory of the United States. 

Sir, in my great desire not to prolong this debate, I have omitted what I intended to 
gay upon the particular question, under the motion of the honorable member from Mis- 
souri (Mr. Benton,) proposing an amendment to the resolution of the honorable senator 
from Illinois, (Mr. Douglass) and that is, upon the propriety and expediency of admitting 
California, under all the circumstance, just as she is. The more general subjects are 
now before the Senate, under the resolutions of the honorable senator from Kentucky, 
(Mr. Clay.) I must say I feel greatly obliged to that member for introducing this sub- 
ject,' and for the lucid spee«h which he has made, and which is so much read throughout 
the whole country. I feel obligations to the honorable member from Tennessee (Mr. 
Bell) for the light which he has shed upon this subject ; and in many respects it will be 
seen that I do not differ much from the leading propositions submitted by either of 
them. Now, when the subject of the admission of California on the direct question 
shall be brought before the Senate, I propose— not before other gentlemen shall have 
addressed the°Senate, who have a desire to do so— to say something upon the boundaries 
of California, upon the constitution of California, and upon the expediency, under all 
the circumstances, of admitting her into the Union under that constitution. 

Mr. Calhoun.— One word I omitted to state in my explanation. Notwithstanding 
the vast addition of Texas referred to by the senator from Massachusetts, it is a fact 
that all this addition to our territory made it by no means equal to that from which the 
Northern States had excluded us before that acquisition. The territory lying west, be- 
tween the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains, is three-quarters of all Louisiana, and 
that which lies between Missouri and Ohio, added to it, makes a much greater extent of 
territory than Florida, Texas, and the portion of Louisiana which has fallen to our share. 

Mr. W.\LKER moved that the further consideration of the subject be postponed until 
to morrow. 



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THE OLD JUDGE. 

HOtV MANV FINS HAS A COD ? 

ASKING A GOVERNOR TO DINE. 

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• THE WITCH OF INKY DELL. 
COI,ONIAL GOVERNMENT. 



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